2014 a record year for parcels dispatched in the UK

UK e-tailers dispatched more parcels from January to November 2014 than during the whole of 2013, according to the IMRG MetaPack Delivery Index, reiterating that 2014 was a record year for online retailing.

The IMRG MetaPack Delivery Index forecasts that more than 930 million parcels will be dispatched by UK retailers across all sectors in 2014, compared to 800 million parcels in 2013. It also adds that 2014 was also the year for overseas deliveries, with just under 20 million orders sent abroad during November, compared with 18.3 million during the same month last year.

As the peak festive season began, the proportion of orders delivered or attempted ‘on time’ in November was at almost 93 percent, which is a month-on-month and year-on-year improvement.

However a number of retailers reported unprecedented volumes of traffic and orders following Black Friday and Cyber Monday super sales, which subsequently created some delays in dispatching parcels towards the end of November. These delays may counteract the good results earlier in November.

Andrew Starkey, head of e-logistics at IMRG, said: “On the whole this has been an exceptional year for UK e-retailers, their carrier partners and the companies providing support services. The Black Friday / Cyber Monday problems may have dented some consumer’s confidence but we should all appreciate that the short-term demand spike was exceptional and unprecedented.”

Angela Connell, strategy and marketing director at MetaPack, added: “What’s also striking about the November index is how it reveals the continuing appeal of UK eCommerce to international online shoppers who are shopping here in even higher volumes than 2013, partly because they have confidence in the industry to deliver overseas.”