THG extends next-day delivery deadline to tap into late-night shopping trend

UK shoppers will be able to order from a host of leading beauty and nutrition brands, including Lookfantastic, Espa, Perricone MD, and Myprotein, until 1am, seven days a week, and still get their products the following day, or the same day for orders placed between midnight and 1am.

The move comes as THG, the digital-first consumer brands group, strengthens its guaranteed next-day delivery service to tap into the “soaring” late-night shopping trend, under a new offer from THG Fulfil, the operations division of THG’s Ingenuity business.

According to THG Fulfil’s data, UK customers are increasingly shopping later, with a 7 percent rise in orders placed between 10pm and 1am compared to last year, and they are increasingly opting for next-day delivery, with an 8 percent increase in customers selecting this option over the same period.

THG also reveals that with more than 82 percent of all next-day delivery orders are placed after 2pm and 27 percent after 10pm, there is a “clear incentive for both customers and retailers to extend next-day delivery order periods as late as possible".

THG enhances next-day delivery service as late-night shopping soars in the UK

The ability to allow customers to shop into the small hours for next-day delivery follows advances in THG Fulfil’s capabilities, such as batching algorithms via automation, inbound strategies, augmentation of bin compositions, and adjustments in outbound processes, which have improved order processing efficiency meaning that THG can take orders later and process and dispatch them more quickly from its highly automated warehouse in Manchester.

The guaranteed next-day delivery also applies to UK orders for THG Ingenuity and THG Fulfil’s external clients.

Tom Killeen, chief operating officer of THG Brands, said in a statement: “It's phenomenal to think that when you place an order until 1am any day of the week, it could arrive the following morning – or even the same morning if you order after midnight. It leans into the 'I want it now' generation of consumers and allows us to drive high customer lifetime value for our brands, and those of our clients.

“There’s a clear business goal here. We strongly believe that fulfilment and courier services are an acquisition tool and should never be an afterthought given its importance to the end customer. As a result, we expect to see improvements in customer retention rates off the back of this service, in addition to improving loyalty and winning new customers.”