According to research published by Mintel, in their courier and express delivery report UK 2017, the value of courier and express delivery managed an impressive £1 billion increase in sales in 2016, upping the overall spend to an estimated £10 billion this year.
Overall, 2.8 billion packages and parcels were delivered in 2016, with the number growing by 65% in four years, up from 1.7 billion in 2012. In 2017 sales are expected to reach £10.8 billion rising to £13.2 billion by 2021, the equivalent of 4 billion packages. Alongside this, UK online retail sales are expected to grow by 55.3% over this same five year period to reach £81.94 billion.
Incredibly, almost nine in 10 (87%) Brits have sent or received a parcel in the last 6 months.
Marco Amasanti, Business-to-Business Analyst at Mintel said “The crux of the recent surge in courier and express delivery services surrounds the ongoing digitalisation of all consumer behaviour, in which e-commerce is the apex. As online channels continue to increase their grip across retailing, the industry is only expected to grow further as supply strives to match surging demand. Money previously spent in retail stores is now increasingly spent online, boosting business-to-consumer delivery demand not only through the initial purchase, but also through the return of goods bought online. The business-to-consumer sector, underlined by the rise in e-commerce will be key to future growth.”
“Convenience, in particular the importance of saving time, has become key to consumer demand. It is clear that demand for convenient time windows is significantly more prevalent among younger Brits. Convenience has gradually pervaded these generations, and established itself as a norm and benchmark in the market. Operators that target a younger market must acknowledge these growing expectations, and shift focus onto customer service accordingly.” Marco continues.
The culture of wanting your package the same day or even within hours of being ordered means that the value of next day deliveries reached £5.5 billion in 2016, up from £3.1 billion in 2012. Same day deliveries have risen from £488 million in 2012 to £1 billion in 2016.
The research also flags reasons why consumers may be dissatisfied with the courier service they received. Top of the list is a long wait time, followed by a parcel being left in an unsafe place (13%) and the parcel not being delivered within the agreed delivery slot (11%). One in 10 (10%) users has experienced a parcel being lost in the post, (8%) have suffered damage to the contents of the parcel.
Home delivery and the convenience of ordering from your home to be delivered anywhere in the world as quickly as possible is evidently becoming the consumers way of buying and distributing their goods, and this is only going to become even bigger. High street stores have a mammoth task to try and entice customers back to their shops, and expectations as to the capabilities of parcel delivery in terms of timescale have become almost expected.
