Parcels

January deliveries point to strong online sales

by Sarah Blackman

Parcel volumes from online retail orders grew 9.5% year-on-year in January, according to the IMRG MetaPack UK Delivery Index.

This is below the 13% forecast for the year, but is a major rise on the growth seen in January last year (3.8%), and IMRG and MetaPack still anticipate that the number of parcels dispatched by UK retailers through UK carriers is likely to breach the 1 billion mark by the end of 2015.

Andrew Starkey, head of e-logistics at IMRG said: “Although this is short of our 13% forecast growth for the full year, the pace of online shopping always picks in the spring so we expect this figure to increase to match our forecast fairly quickly. It is pleasing to see that after the trauma of Black Friday, the UK carrier industry has recovered quickly and the level of on time delivery / attempted delivery at 92.5% is at its highest January level since 2012.”

Angela O’Connell, strategy and marketing director, MetaPack added: “The story of January 2015 is how UK retailers and carriers are continuing to cooperate ever more closely to sustain the successful rebound from the challenges of early December. A year on year January increase in parcels dispatched is a great way to begin a year when we expect more innovation in delivery choices to enable the growth we and the IMRG are forecasting.”

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