Parcel delivery companies in the UK should be gearing up for another strong peak season this year,driven by continued double-digit growth in online retail, after coping successfully with the
challenges of the London 2012 Olympics, according to figures from online retail association IMRG.Some carriers have already invested in additional sorting capacity and are starting to hireextra temporary staff to cope with an expected further rise in online orders and home deliveriesthis year.
The latest eCustomerServiceIndex results from eDigitalResearch and IMRG, from a survey of2,000 consumers, found that around 26 per cent of ‘e-shoppers’ expect to spend more online thisyear in the run-up to Christmas than they did last year, while 96 per cent of online consumersexpect to make at least some of their Christmas purchases through retail websites.
IMRG also said a slowdown in August in the rate of UK online retail sales growth had more todo with the London 2012 Olympics than any structural shift. Figures from the IMRG Capgemini eRetailSales Index indicate that UK online retail growth dropped to 11 per cent in August, down 11 percent compared with total online spend in July and below the 13 per cent year-to-date growth inonline retail in the UK. IMRG had also forecast full-year growth of 13 per cent. While a declinebetween July and August is typical (-6 per cent in 2011 and -8 per cent in 2010), the decline wasparticularly significant this year.
Tina Spooner, chief information officer at IMRG, commented: “While online retail sales saw aboost during July in the run up to the Olympic Games, the same cannot be said during the eventitself. The 11 per cent growth recorded in August is below the average Index performanceyear-to-date and is perhaps an indication that Olympic fever did not have an overall positiveimpact on the online retail industry.”
Chris Webster, head of retail consulting and technology at Capgemini UK said: “It is verycommon for August to see a slight decline in e-retail sales, but it is interesting to see just howmuch an added impact the Olympics had. It will now be up to retailers to capitalise on the changingseason, and make sure the correct strategy is in place as we enter the run up to Christmas.”
Andy Mulcahy, head of communications at online retail association IMRG, told CEP-Researchthat the association had yet to make its official predictions for the final quarter of 2012 and thepre-Christmas peak periods, although his expectation was that year-on-year growth in the finalmonths would be slightly higher than the year-to-date average of 13 per cent.
He observed that the delivery sector appeared to have prepared well for the expecteddisruptions of the London 2012 Olympics, and speculated that this could bode well for theirpreparations for the coming peak season.
With estimated sales of more than €85 billion in 2011, the UK online retail market is thebiggest in Europe and the second-largest in the world, only exceeded by US e-retail sales,estimated at more than €240 billion. UK online retail grew by 16 per cent in 2011, according toIMRG.
