Editor's Blog Section

From ‘Opinion’ column, issue 36 – summer 2005

Back in 2001, when online shopping was still in its relative infancy, the BBC’s consumer affairs programme Watchdog launched a scheme called the Delivery Charter, and several big retailers signed up to it (in name at any rate, since it had no real teeth apart from what it gained from media exposure).

In the way of such things, the original scheme gradually faded from prominence, but some of its tenets bear revisiting. Signatories were supposed to offer “a more specific delivery time” (than what, we don’t know, but the intent was clear); a courtesy phone call in the event of a serious delivery delay; and the option for goods to be delivered “outside of conventional office hours, and at least one day of the weekend”.

Four years on, how many retailers can say with hand on heart that they’ve actually achieved these objectives? Increasing numbers do now offer Saturday delivery – but sometimes at a premium of up to £8, and it’s far from being the norm. A few let consumers actually specify a delivery time. As for a courtesy phone call, well, not on a book or a CD, that’s for sure.

Plenty of schemes have emerged to give credibility and respectability to online purchasing; the latest is WebTraderUK, which has been launched by the Direct Marketing Association for its members, and is being administered by the National Newspapers' Mail Order Protection Scheme (MOPS).

As e-commerce Minister Mike O'Brien said at the WebTraderUK launch: “Confidence in online shopping is vital if we are to achieve our ambition to be the best place in the world for e-commerce.”

Hear hear. The problem, though, is that no amount of trust is going to persuade shoppers to buy online if the delivery options remain diverse and often limited. The market needs another Delivery Charter, but it’s not clear who should run it.

Organisations such as the Interactive Media in Retail Group have attempted to campaign for more proactiveness and clarity in the delivery proposition, but arguably the thrust should come more directly from the industry – not from an organisation like the BBC, whose ongoing commitment to it simply can’t be guaranteed.

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