It’s Christmas day and the child who’s behaved like an angel, sent their begging letter to Santa, has been promised by you they’ll get that must have toy which they’ve just opened… and with a feeling of dread choking your through your throat you realise the hundred quid you spent is wasted for want of some batteries.
You’ll be rushing around trying to find a garage or corner shop that’s open and batteries in hand you’ll realise you’ve no custard to go with desert or that you’ve run out of vodka and before you know it a mini shop is on the go.
So why are so many retailers shut on Christmas day and will this be the last year everyone shuts down? Argos will be delivering same day on Christmas Eve evening and Amazon will do their best to get products delivered, but David Jinks of ParcelHero thinks they’ll soon do more saying: ‘We live in an era of increasingly instant gratification; and some consumers are prepared to pay handsomely for that convenience. Retailers need to wake up to changing demands; and there is little doubt that there is a considerable untapped market just waiting for the first retailer to deliver on the 25th. Our Christmas deadlines online tool, revealing Britain’s favourite stores’ last possible order dates, is more popular than ever this year; as we all learn we can leave ordering even later. Christmas Day deliveries will be the logical culmination of this trend.’
If any retailer is likely to break ranks, play Santa and start same day deliveries on Christmas Day, I’m guessing that it’ll be Amazon. Prime Now already offers same day or within the hour delivery to about 30% of the population. Amazon are starting to deliver food from restaurants (and the food and drink industry are one of the few types of businesses who do open on Christmas Day). Could 2017 be the year we see Amazon start offering same day delivery on Christmas Day?
Of course I feel for the couriers and warehouse workers who will inevitably have to work to feed our thirst for instant gratification. It might not be desirable for them to work, but as we’ve seen in the past it only takes one retailer to open on Bank Holidays or one supermarket to open 24 hours and the others soon follow.
Christmas Day (and the even more closely protected Easter Day) are the last two bastions in the stand against 365 day shopping. Would Amazon dare to break the custom of families enjoying Christmas Day without a trip to the shops or an instant delivery?
In lieu of a Christmas Day delivery, you’ll have to make do with ParcelHero’s last order dates for major retailers guide but 2016 may be the last year you need such a tool.
8 Responses
“So why are so many retailers shut on Christmas day….”
Well despite the best efforts of the looney left, Great Britain is still a Christian country. It’s a public holiday, and let’s hope it stays that way.
Maplins do 100x AA alkaline batteries for £14.99. It’s not rocket science.
I’m with you… Christmas Day and Easter Day should be emergency/health services only. Already too many shops open.
Me too. But let’s hope that the utilities keep going as well! Unsung all those people.
But I’ll happily sell on Christmas Day online and the subsequent 2 Bank Holidays safe in the knowledge that eBay won’t expect me to post until Friday (with settings for 3 day handling) and that they will quote UK customers an estimated Delivery date of Tuesday 3rd January.
Happy New Year!
Is it me or is ParcelHero getting a lot of PR releases on here recently??
Its coming. Jeff Bezos won’t be working on Christmas day himself but he is working on an enhancement to the digital whip that they use in their warehouses. It will deliver workers a drug that will make them so compliant that they’ll work whenever he wants.
I cant see why this wont happen to be honest; I am old enough to remember a world without 24/7, but have worked within the Logistics industry all my career and seen the inevitable 24/7, 365 working practices and to gain competitive edge then a Board Meeting will occur at a retailer sometime this year and someone with the subsequent ambition will say ‘Ok, lets just go for it – deliver Xmas day, get everything sorted delivery and supply chain wise, and go hell for leather marketing it’ and everyone will nod, then everyone else will follow.
Its polarizing but my firm belief is that when it comes to selling or money then the market sees no such thing as a ‘last bastion’ of days which are somehow sacrosanct, they are just all a sales opportunity – in a way my attitude when working within Logistics has always been to just open every minute of every day, then what else can you do? Its just then squeezing out efficiencies and unique ways of marketing, not gradually chipping away at time that traditionally has been a no-go area.