With the US holiday shopping season fast approaching, a new survey by DS Smith reveals a common complaint for online shoppers: damaged goods.
The online survey conducted by The Harris Poll found that a staggering 60 per cent of Americans have received damaged goods when ordering online this year. Among those receiving damaged goods, about one-third said the package was crushed (34 per cent), torn (34 per cent) or the product was smashed within the packaging (32 per cent).
In the United States, an estimated 700 million packages are delivered damaged each year worth approx. US $48.5 billion. With Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales expected to break records this year according to Adobe Digital Insights, it is a problem of massive scale. ,
“Three-quarters of Americans (78 per cent) make online purchases that are delivered to their home and/or workplace at least once a month while almost half of those polled receive deliveries weekly,” said Steven Rose, managing director, North American Packaging, DS Smith. “Damaged packaging can be a big frustration for eCommerce shoppers as well as a pain point for retailers. The goal of DS Smith is to provide our customers with packaging solutions that ensure products arrive safely in their original condition, while using no more material than necessary.”
According to the study, online shoppers indicate that food, drink, clothes, and health and beauty (make-up, skincare, haircare) are the items most frequently damaged during online delivery.
DS Smith research has shown that a typical online parcel undergoes G-forces measuring up to an astronomical 50Gs. This is more than five times the level of G-forces that would cause an experienced astronaut to lose consciousness and 10 times more G-forces than are typically experienced on a rollercoaster.
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