European e-tailers 'failing customers'

NEWS The report claims 39 per cent of goods fail to arrive at their destination because of technical errors on the website or problems with delivery. Andersen spent two months placing 445 orders with 162 dot-com companies across France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the UK. Italy had the worst record with just four per cent of orders arriving on time, while UK e-tailers proved the most reliable with 80 per cent of orders being successfully completed. Online retailers are also failing to provide consumers with enough order information the report claims, with only 28 per cent providing an expected delivery date. Oliver Benzecry, a partner in Andersen's Retail Practice claimed the figures show European e-tailers still have to make big improvements in service. "The success of the business depends not only on attracting demand to the site, but on fulfilling this demand in a way that creates repeat business," he said. Orders made across national boundaries proved even less successful with less than half the completed orders being delivered within a week. Benzecry added: "If an e-tailer wants to succeed in its home market and across borders, it must have a service proposition that meets the need of the market - and meets those needs in a consistent fashion."