Preparation and Co-operation – the recipe for success over the Black Friday Weekend says MetaPack

Lessons learned from 2014 ensured that this year’s Black Friday Weekend was a great success in terms of delivery. Data derived from the MetaPack platform confirms that 92% of deliveries on Cyber Monday were on time, compared to 73% on the same day a year ago. Given that on time deliveries for the previous six months averaged 93%, all evidence would suggest that the industry came together to ensure that a high quality of service was maintained throughout.

Patrick Wall, CEO at MetaPack, said: “Many records were broken over the Black Friday Weekend, but more importantly, it was the fast and efficient response of the retail and logistics industries that proved most significant. Thanks to the depth of preparation made by both retailers and carriers, the sharing of forecasts, and the adoption of multi-carrier contracts to cover the period, retailers were able to manage capacity and worked in tandem with carriers to clear orders. As a result, the quality of service for customers was maintained throughout, with carriers even providing additional services - including Sunday collections - to manage the increase in volumes and enable retailers to keep their delivery promises.”

Key facts based on deliveries processed across the MetaPack platform over the Black Friday weekend include:

•         Uplift in volume over the equivalent weekend in 2014 of 45%
•         78% of consumers chose to select normal delivery services, 22% requested express services
•         The biggest volume increases by retail category compared with 2014 were:
o    77% Electronics
o    58% Health and Beauty
o    57% Clothing
o    44% Department Stores
o    35% Furniture
•         26% of orders came from overseas buyers
•         Top 10 UK cities for deliveries were:
o    London, Birmingham, Belfast, Glasgow, Manchester, Sheffield, Newcastle, Nottingham, Cardiff, Liverpool.

Apart from seeing record year-on-year volumes for many retailers, the Black Friday Weekend was also characterised by being truly omnichannel. Consumers followed the best deals, from in-store to online, seamlessly securing bargains from the most convenient route. Having once again learned lessons from last year, retailers were in a position to provide support through whichever channel their customer chose to use, offering cross-channel promotions to encourage brand loyalty and reinforce the customer relationship.
 
Further information on the Peak period in the run-up to Christmas can be found at: www.metapack.com/report/peak-index-2015/