E-Commerce Growth To Change UK Delivery Industry

With e-commerce now firmly established as a favourite way of shopping for many Brits, the delivery industry is expecting significant changes over the next few years, according to new research from Global Freight Solutions (GFS).

Apparently, UK delivery companies that have been polled expect that the number of personal parcels to be delivered will become equal to that of business deliveries over the next five years, as more and more people choose the convenience of shopping from their homes.

During the last Christmas season, more than one in three parcels that companies delivered were sent by online retailers and it is predicted that by 2016 personal deliveries will reach 50%. This would mean a massive change for the carrier industry, as so far its main revenues have been coming from business clients, GFS comments.

Further calculations reveal that personal and business deliveries combined will account for 4.75m parcels every day over Christmas five years from now. In addition, GFS expects that January will also become busier over the next few years.

Simon Veale, GFS director, comments that the anticipated growth of e-commerce is driven by online retailers’ flexibility and dynamics, compared to more static high-street shops, as they have more options to start sales early and to generate sales well before the festive period. However, he adds that retailers should put more effort into optimising their order and delivery processes to make sure they make the most of the opportunities they have.