Ecommerce: Delivery Preferences

Parcel Delivery in Germany: Key Insights

• Delivery usage by demographics: The generation and gender of online shoppers play a decisive role when it comes to selecting delivery methods.

• Generational preferences toward delivery: For older customers in Germany, direct to home delivery is popular while younger shoppers are open to options that offer more flexibility around their schedule. This is a helpful hint for eCommerce businesses that cater to different generation of shoppers.

• Gendered preferences toward delivery: While females are opting to get their orders delivered to nearby stores and neighbors, a large share of males want their parcel bags delivered in front of their house/apartment.

Recognizing the importance of delivery on the online shopping journey, eCommerce businesses today strive to offer a range of delivery options to buyers. However, customer preferences in terms of delivery option usage vary according to their gender and generation, as highlighted by Statista Consumer Insights.

Let us take a detailed look at the delivery option usage of German shoppers from different generations and genders.

Parcel Delivery by Generation: Preference for Doorstep Delivery Rises with Shoppers’ Age

In terms of generational cohort, the older the shopper, the more likely they are to choose delivery options that are more traditional.

The usage of doorstep delivery increases with age: 14% of Gen Z customers chose ‘direct to my house’, while the percentage more than doubled for the Boomer generation at 29%.

The biggest share of Generation X selected nearby parcel pick up stations (31%) and direct to house delivery (30%); this group prefers direct to home delivery the most out of all generations under study. Overall, the choices of the older generations underline their inclination towards traditional delivery models.

Conversely, for Millennials, the top options were having their parcel bags delivered in front of their house/apartment in a secure place accessible only by them (43%) and to a nearby store or post office/depot (34%). Most Gen Z shoppers also took similar routes: 23% had their parcels delivered at a nearby store and 22% to the post office or depot.

This suggests that younger shoppers prefer more flexible delivery. A large share, particularly from the Millennial generation, is also not deterred by the prospect of visiting another location to collect their online orders.

Parcel Delivery by Gender: More Males Want Delivery to Home than Females

In terms of gender, the largest share of females chose to have their parcels delivered to nearby stores (53%) and neighbors (53%) over all the other options, whereas most male shoppers (55%) selected the option of parcel bags delivered in front of house/apartment.

Between male and female shoppers, there exists the widest gap (10%) when it comes to getting parcels delivered in front of their house/apartment. While the largest share of males (55%) chose this option, the lowest share of females (45%) selected it.

A similar divergence in delivery preference can be observed for getting parcels delivered at the post office or depot, with a larger percentage of males (53%) choosing this option compared to females (47%).