Metapack forecast later, steeper Christmas peak

MetaPack, the delivery specialist, have noticed a levelling out of ecommerce deliveries over the last month compared to the last two years and are expecting a later, steeper Christmas peak.

“As previously predicted, the on-line sales peak is going to be significantly later and higher in 2012 than previous years. In a surprise turn the week-on-week growth between w/e 17th November and w/e 24th November is significantly behind trend with an 8.5% increase compared to 33.5% and 19.2% in the two years before. This has also affected the overall growth from the beginning of September which continues to slowly level out,” explains Patrick Wall, MetaPack CEO and Founder.

However the UK’s “Black Friday” on the 23rd was up 33% compared to the same day last year with lots more UK retailers than ever before jumping on the American sales lane with offers and discounts. Similarly the American “Cyber Monday” on the 26th also saw a number of UK deals and in turn saw a large increase on last year by 45%.

The sectors gaining the most traction are Sports & Leisure which might be an after effect from the wake of the Olympics. Clothing and Accessories continue strong growth.

The UK’s largest shopping day is traditionally the first Monday in December, so we expect to see these figures rise even further on the 3rd December and probably even higher on the 10th December.

“The growing confidence in the retail and carrier market along with the mild weather seems to create a more relaxed atmosphere which will also induce a later rush and a steeper peak as we into move into December and past pay day this week. The figures also show consumers are far more price conscious than ever before, waiting on deals and price cuts before making a purchase”.

How are you sales progressing this Christmas? Are they ahead of predictions, where you’d expect them to be, or are you still sitting on stock waiting for the Christmas rush to come?