ICM Poll: Royal Mail strike

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In an exclusive poll for Retail Week, ICM Research interviewed a random selection of 2,050 adults aged 18 and over between October 23 and 25, 2009 about the impact of the postal strike.

In the wake of the Royal Mail strikes, how confident are you about shopping online or using mail order at present?
Very confident		11%
Quite confident		44%
Not very confident		29%
Not at all confident		11%
n/a		4%
40% of those polled are either not very confident or not at all confident about shopping online or using mail order at present. People in the Southeast are the least confident, with 44% from that region saying they do not feel confident. In comparison, only 34% of those surveyed in Scotland felt that way. Men are more confident than women: 61% of men are very or quite confident compared with only 51% of women.
If you have recently purchased online or by mail order, have you already suffered a delay in delivery or not received a delivery as yet, as a result of strike action?
Yes, have suffered a delay/not received a delivery as yet		22%
No, have not suffered ay delays or undelivered items recently		49%
I have not made an online/maiul order purchase recently		29%
More than one in five have encountered problems with delivery of items purchased online or by mail order, but almost half the people in Britain have not. Unsurprisingly, those in the Southeast have encountered the most problems, with 27% having suffered delays or not received a delivery. This compares with only 18% of people who live in the Midlands, which is the area least affected by the Royal Mail industrial action.
How good a job do you think, online and mail order retailers have done, in making clear to shoppers whether or not they use Royal Mail for deliveries?
Very good		14%
Quite good		42%
Neither good nor poor		18%
Quite poor		5%
Very poor		2%
Not noticed/Don’t know		19%
Only 7% of people feel retailers have done a very poor or quite poor job of making it clear to shoppers whether or not they use Royal Mail for delivery. Marginally more men than women believe retailers have done a poor job (9% versus 6%). Unsurprisingly, the people worst affected, in the Southeast, are most likely to think that retailers have done a poor job - 10% said they’ve done a poor job compared with 4% in Scotland.
If post strikes continue in the run-up to Christmas, which of the following best describes how this would affect your Christmas shopping behaviour?
Shop a lot less online than planned		20%
Shop a little less online than planned		30%
No difference		40%
Do not shop online		10%
Half those surveyed said they would shop less online and by mail order if the post strikes continue in the run-up to Christmas, but 40% said it would make no difference. Women are marginally more likely to change their plans than men (53% versus 47%). Those aged 18 to 24 are most likely to change their shopping behaviour if the strikes continue, while the 55 to 64 age group are least likely to (62% versus 38%).

Methodology

ICM Research interviewed a random selection of 2,050 adults aged 18 and over between September 18 and 20, 2009. Interviews were conducted online and the results have been weighted to be nationally representative of the profile of all adults