By Guy Taylor
Delivery giant Evri delivered a record number of parcels during the busy festive period, boosted by a late surge in the final Christmas week as bargain-hunting shoppers scrapped for late deals.
Parcel volumes surpassed 150m for the first time over the peak season, with a 21 per cent spike in the week leading up to Christmas.
The Leeds-based firm said customers had been open to holding out for bargains with traditional retailers, while also trying out new brands. New entrants from China’s ecommerce fashion and online marketplace saw especially strong demand.
It marks a sharp turnaround to last year’s Christmas, in which the parcel delivery group was forced to apologise after people complained of significant delays or not receiving their packages at all.
Evri has consistently ranked near the bottom of customer satisfaction league tables. In a bid to improve its reputation, the company has invested £32m in its operations and customer service teams, while hiring over 6,500 extra staff to handle orders.
Chris Ashworth, Evri’s chief customer officer, said: “Evri delivered a Christmas cracker – with record parcel volumes – driven by its strategic investments made throughout the year and colleagues pulling out all the stops to deliver the best possible festive period for customers.”
“Last year’s performance was hindered by strikes by the major carrier but this much-improved peak season capped off an incredible 2023 for Evri in which it served over 12 million customers a week and delivered more than 720 million parcels.”
The company serves more than 80 per cent of the UK’s top retailers, including brands such as M&S, Next and John Lewis.
Some 154m deliveries were made in the nine weeks to 30 December, in contrast to a more subdued Black Friday in November.
