Acceptability of collection and delivery points from consumers’ perspective: A qualitative case study of Christchurch city

Abstract

The growth in global online retail sales during the last decade has led to an enormous increase in the number of parcels to be delivered. Although vehicle kilometres travelled associated with shopping trips might decrease as a result of online shopping, an increased number of failed home deliveries might out-weigh this reduction, worsening urban transport problems caused by high car dependency. In many European countries, such as France, UK and the Netherlands, Collection and Delivery Points (CDPs) have been implemented and observed to increase delivery efficiency by reducing the number of failed home deliveries.Similar to the worldwide trend of online shopping, a major proportion of New Zealanders also shop online. However, CDPs were only recently introduced in limited locations within three of New Zealand’s biggest cities, i.e. Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Thus, little is understood about New Zealanders’ acceptance of CDPs and their online shopping behaviour. This study aimed to address these issues by means of focus groups, using Christchurch as a case study. The results show that the factors influencing the Christchurch’s residents’ acceptance of CDPs, can be categorised into several themes, such as CDP network density, parking availability at CDPs, spatial location of CDPs, proximity to consumers’ home or office, safe and secure operation, and hours of operation of CDPs. Such knowledge is important for policy makers to help formulate policies that can lead to more sustainable urban environments, and for the companies that want to establish successful CDP networks in Christchurch.