In one of the boldest moves yet to stop Black Friday 2015 placing unsustainable demands on the retail delivery network, Yodel has announced it will cap the amount of next-day parcels it will accept from retailers. Volumes for the number of parcels to be shipped next-day will have to be agreed in advance of the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend, the carrier has said.
This comes as Yodel announces research findings that show consumer interest in Black Friday could be four-times greater in 2015 than last year. In the aftermath of Black Friday 2014, Yodel said it had to soak up an extra 600,000 parcels.
Yodel executive chairman, Dick Stead, said: “Since last Black Friday we’ve been listening even more intently to customers, and we’ll be sharing this insight and other data with our retail clients to enable them to provide us with accurate daily forecasts. This year we will be limiting our next day capacity and will only accept the parcel volumes agreed with our clients in order to protect service levels and ensure that shoppers have the best delivery experience possible.”
Consumer research carried out by Yodel found that nearly four times the number of shoppers are planning to place an order online this Black Friday (27 November) than last year. Just 8% of respondents said they placed an online order on Black Friday 2014, whereas 30% said that they will participate in the promotion this year.
A total of 6,371 people were surveyed by eDigitalResearch for Yodel, between 16 and 22 June. It also found that 76% said that they are happy to wait longer for orders placed on Back Friday, as long as they’re kept informed about progress. More than one quarter (27%) of respondents said they would be happy if their order took an extra three days during seasonal sales and 28% would wait an extra two days.
Just one fifth (21%) would only wait one day extra and only 13% said they wouldn’t be prepared to wait at all, Yodel said.
Further findings from the research show:
- The likelihood of spending online during Black Friday 2015 is directly correlated with age (39% of 18-24 year olds are likely or very likely to buy online during Black Friday 2015, compared to 18% of over-65s)
- Women are more likely to wait longer for standard deliveries (77% of women vs 72% of men)
- Shoppers in Scotland and Northern Ireland are most likely to order online during Black Friday 2015 (37% of Scottish and 42% of Northern Irish people said they were ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ to place an online order during Black Friday 2015)
- Shoppers in London are least likely to be willing to wait longer for their deliveries (70% vs average of 76%).
