A report from Somo has found that almost two-thirds of Millennials want to be able to improve the eco-friendliness and social conscientiousness of their safe shopping online by making it possible to share deliveries and orders with others in their community.

This reflects changing trends brought about by the coronavirus pandemic, as more people are choosing to take advantages of e-commerce sites in order to buy items not only for themselves but also for those who live nearby.

The majority of those questioned in the survey said that some kind of application or shopping tool which was specifically geared towards making it simpler to assist the most vulnerable members of society would be a real benefit not just in these trying times but also more generally.

75 per cent said that they thought that supermarkets should update their online shopping platforms to make it possible to see stock levels for particular products rather than having to accept substitutes when orders arrive.

Study spokesperson Rebecca Crook said that consumer behaviours were clearly shifting in response to the ongoing national lockdown, with more people turning to the web to fulfil their needs, which was a trend that was revealing a number of the deficiencies in the current systems that are in place.

She also explained that the community-led demand for online shopping could significantly reshape expectations going forward, not only because it would allow consumers to help out their neighbours but also because by combining orders it would be possible to reduce the carbon footprint of the entire e-commerce industry.

This is clearly a trend that is more popular with younger members of society, as just a fifth of the over-55s who were asked said that they had increased their use of online shopping.