Parcelhub has issued a warning to online sellers saying they should have contingency plans in place in case of delivery problems this Christmas.
Last year saw some couriers struggling with capacity. Yodel stopped taking in parcels. City Link went bust. And 2015 is set to be bigger than last year, especially as retailers ramp up the Black Friday hype.
Parcelhub MD Mark Rosenberg says: “Nearly four times the number of shoppers are expected to place an order online on Black Friday this year compared to 2014 and this is predicted to increase parcel volumes by 15%. It’s a timebomb waiting to happen. Retailers need to start talking to their delivery partners about their predicted volumes so that there is time to adequately plan, balance demand and build flexibility into the schedules.”
“It is incredibly hard to forecast on a daily basis as small influences can have a big impact, for example the weather or a particular gifting craze. However once predicted volumes are reached, there is a strong likelihood that carriers will simply stop accepting more deliveries. If you’re a small business relying on a single carrier, this is going to severely impact on your delivery times and customer service.”
3 Responses
Glad I stick with Royal Mail, they have this Christmas malarkey sorted, they’ve worked out that it happens almost bang on cue the same time each year and they take on extra staff on to cope with it. 😉