parcel being carried

This year has seen a number of operators in the parcels sector begin making deliveries on a Sunday as they scramble to meet consumers’ home delivery demands. Parcelforce, DPD and Hermes have begun offering the service, with Royal Mail launching a trial Sunday service for addresses within the M25. But is it what consumers really want? Will it help drive business?

According to The Last Mile report, published by Barclays, only a third of logistics providers surveyed feel that Sunday deliveries are an area of interest, while less than 12% feel that it will help drive business growth in terms of sales and profit.

Barclays believes that carriers are feeling the pressure to offer a Sunday service to rival their competitors, even if it will increase cost.

Dick Stead, executive chairman at Yodel, told The Hub that there are a number of benefits and drawbacks to offering a Sunday service.

He said: “It’s standard practice for carriers to make Sunday deliveries in the run up to Christmas, and there are definite benefits to this, both for the carrier – as it soothes the weekend peak – and the consumer. However these benefits do not come without significant cost implications.

“Yodel has been looking into Sunday deliveries for some time and conducting research to identify the genuine consumer appetite for a Sunday service,” added Stead.

Patrick Gallagher, CEO at CitySprint, said offering Sunday delivery can reduce cost, as deliveries are less likely to be made when the recipient is out.

“Sunday, evening and bank holiday delivery services are equally important to ensuring customer satisfaction and minimising the use of ‘sorry we missed you’ cards,” said Gallagher. “Time is precious to consumers, which is why we’ve been operating a seven-days-a-week service for years."

DPD launched its Sunday service in July. Dwain McDonald, CEO, said:  “We’ve had a fantastic response from retailers and receivers to our Sunday delivery service.  The retailers like it because it allows them to offer another delivery option and they run seven day operations anyway.”

The Barclays report also found:

- Over 50% of logistics providers surveyed thought that coping with increased capacity requirements is a threat to future growth.

- The total number of physical deliveries is to increase by over 40% between 2013 and 2018.

- Cost matters the most to consumers when choosing from delivery options, while service matters the least.

- Click and collect is predicted to account for a third of online deliveries by 2018.