Hundreds of thousands of Brits can now look forward to a better home shopping experience thanks to DPD, who’ve become the first parcels company to provide customers with a one hour window for their home deliveries.

Launched today across the UK, home shoppers who buy from retailers shipping with DPD can receive a free SMS or email giving them a precise one hour window in which the driver will arrive. Big name retailers among the 1,500 companies who’ve already signed up for the service include: mobile phones giant Three, online gift company iwantoneofthose.com, and DSGi plc, whose brands include Currys, Dixons and The TechGuys

The new service means an end to ‘Sorry we missed you’ cards and to taking time off work to wait at home for a parcel. If the recipient of the SMS knows that they won’t be in to sign for the package, they can text back and arrange for DPD to deliver on a more convenient date.

The scale of home delivery hassles experienced by UK householders was highlighted in a recent survey by pollsters Opinion Matters which found that of 1,369 adults:

• 87% have waited in all day for a delivery without knowing when it would arrive and 23% of us have done it four times a year or more
• 82% find it ‘frustrating’ or ‘very frustrating’ to wait at home for a delivery, not knowing when it will arrive
• 10.2% have fabricated an excuse to stay off work and wait for a delivery. Excuses included: ‘my gerbil has died’, ‘my budgie is dying’, plus less imaginative porkies such as ‘migraines’, ‘waiting for a plumber’, and ‘a dodgy prawn sandwich’. 
• 80% have had to go to a parcel depot or Royal Mail office in the last 12 months to collect a parcel. And 27.5% have made five visits or more.

In a move designed to make these frustrations a thing of the past, DPD has invested £2m over the last two years developing the technology needed for its one hour delivery window. As the company makes around 20 million deliveries a year to home addresses, it’s expected that the new service will lead to far fewer 'Sorry we missed you' cards and also mean that consumers have to make fewer journeys to collect packages from parcel depots.

The Opinion Matters survey shows that 82% of people would find a one hour delivery window ‘very useful’ and that a further 14.2% would find it ‘useful’.

DPD CEO Dwain McDonald said: “Most online shoppers are busy people who love the ease of buying on the internet at any time of day or night but resent the inconvenience of waiting in all day for a delivery. That’s why we’re confident that our one hour service is the solution that shippers and shoppers alike have been waiting for.

“Consumers who value their time are more likely to re-order from retailers who proactively communicate with them to make the delivery experience as convenient as possible.”

David Smith, Director of Operations at IMRG, the membership community for the e-retail industry says: “Our own research shows that 62% of online shoppers have experienced a failed delivery due to nobody being at home and a further 38% are put off purchasing because delivery times are too vague. That’s why we think that the new DPD offering will be welcomed by retailers and by their customers.”

Consumer Focus, the statutory body campaigning for a fair deal for consumers, recently called for courier companies to: "keep up with the world around them and develop more suitable ways of delivering parcels."

Dwain McDonald adds: “Our new service means more ‘right first time’ deliveries which will also produce environmental benefits in the shape of fewer return journeys to attempt delivery, reduced fuel consumption and lower carbon emissions.”