Kurt Salmon, the consulting company that is part of Accenture Strategy (KSA), conducted a study covering more than 70 online stores in the fashion, sporting goods and premium segment in Germany. Most online retailers are facing problems with significant delivery delays due to the current corona crisis and are hesitating to make delivery promises. Deliveries take currently on average two days longer than in 2019, representing an increase of 66 percent in the average delivery time. The percentage of retailers that offer delivery free of charge is increasing. Almost 40 percent of online retailers participating in the survey are not requesting delivery fees or a minimum order value. According to the study, the corona crisis is causing 78 percent of retailers to offer more generous return policies. The average return period is up by 164 percent. The study suggests that branch inventories and bottlenecks in delivery logistics can be reduced through pragmatic and contactless click & collect offers. Only a fifth of the online stores covered in the study publish no indication of the effects of the corona crisis. In ten out of the 70 examined online stores, customers were targeted with special campaigns for certain product ranges, such as ”styles for home workout.”

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