Waiting in for online shopping to be delivered will cost the British economy £868m this Christmas, according to research by parcel delivery company CollectPlus.
The average Briton will spend two hours and 22 minutes waiting at home this Christmas for gifts and parcels ordered online to be delivered, but nearly 32 hours over the course of the whole year. The independent study by CollectPlus found that 41% of people have taken time off work to wait in for a delivery and that 26% admit they are put off ordering online because they don't want to wait in.

It also found that people have had experience waiting in for deliveries that have either turned up late (79%) or not at all (61%). The shows that people are more likely to wait in for some goods than others; 35% of people are willing to wait for home and garden-ware products and 42% for electronics and technology goods.

However, despite the problems when it comes to deliveries, industry group IMRG and consultants Capgemini predict online sales will reach a record £10bn this December.

Ceo of CollectPlus Neil Ashworth said it is annoying to find 'while you were out' cards instead of expected purchases and has urged retailers to offer convenience rather than forcing people to arrange re-deliveries or collect purchases themselves. "Our research shows that inflexible deliveries are damaging the overall shopping experience for customers," he said. "Part of the appeal of shopping online is the convenience it offers, but people also want to be able to get their goods at a time and a place that suits them.

"Retailers must offer customers convenience in the delivery process. Click and collect services - whether in-store or at third party locations such as convenience stores - put the customer back in control and are a great antidote to the problems people have historically faced when shopping online."