UK online retail delivery volumes rose 40 per cent between October and November, according to latest data from the IMRG MetaPack UK Delivery Index – it was the highest month-on-month growth recorded since the Index launched in 2011.
The figures reflects the huge online shopping demand over the Black Friday period, which was extended over a longer timeframe by many UK retailers this year – and was already building on record October-high year-on-year growth of +15.5 per cent. The year-on-year growth for November this year was almost double that of last year - up 29.6 per cent.
In 2014, the unprecedented scale of Black Friday led to significant problems for the online retail supply chain, as record volumes were concentrated into a very tight window and some retailer and carrier operations became overwhelmed.
So far this year, ‘on-time / first-time’ delivery performance has been very strong – running at above 92 per cent over the past 12 months and in November, above 93 per cent. According to IMRG, there have so far been no signs of the widespread logistics issues seen last year.
Speaking on the new data, Andrew Starkey, head of e-logistics at IMRG said, “A key part of our advice to retailers running discount campaigns this year was to extend them over longer periods to relieve the pressure on supply chains. It seems that many did bring forward their sales activity, which has so far helped industry to fulfil the huge volumes of orders efficiently – in spite of Black Friday becoming an even bigger event than last year."
While delivery operations are still in the middle of their peak period, the signs so far are positive, he added, saying it was "no doubt also a reflection of the huge investment made by carriers in recent years in order to ensure peak can be managed effectively.”
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