E-tailers Facing Festive Delivery ‘Timebomb’

Parcelhub, part of the Whistl group, provide a parcel delivery service for high-volume business mail and parcels through multiple carriers. Parcelhub highlight that eTailers need to move quickly and think smarter if they will fulfil their delivery promises this Christmas season.

Last year, courier firms hit the headlines as higher-than-expected parcel volumes resulted in suspended services and missed deadlines. Shoppers spent £810 million on Black Friday, a 38% increase in online spending, which generated 10 million parcels for the domestic delivery network to process. A further £1.2 billion was spent on Cyber Monday three days later and Manic Monday the following week.

Managing Director of Parcelhub, Mark Rosenberg, says. However, Christmas is being discussed within the industry, and too few sellers are thinking correctly about their options – complacency, which will almost certainly result in issues with delivery capacity later in the year.

“Nearly four times the number of shoppers are expected to place an order online on Black Friday this year compared to 2014, and parcel volumes generated by e-commerce during the peak season are expected to increase by 15%. On top of this rise, remember that since the demise of City Link, we’re one carrier down too.

“It’s a timebomb waiting to happen. Retailers need to start talking to their delivery partners about their predicted volumes, so there is time to plan adequately, balance demand and build flexibility into the schedules.”

Many carriers ask their customers to accurately predict the volumes they send over the peak trading period. However, while previous forecasts may have covered a week or a month, retailers are asked to predict daily volumes this year.

Mark added, “It is incredibly hard to forecast daily as minor influences can have a significant impact, for example, the weather or a particular gifting craze. However, once predicted volumes are reached, there is a strong likelihood that carriers will stop accepting more deliveries. If you’re a small business relying on a single carrier, this will impact your delivery times and customer service severely.

“Because Parcelhub uses multiple carriers, we can offer more flexibility – although I would still suggest that businesses think seriously about the level of service they need. Interestingly more than three-quarters of shoppers surveyed said they would be happy to wait a little longer for orders if they’re kept informed about progress. Our software provides full parcel tracking and SMART notifications, so everyone is aware of delivery times and any exceptions.”