Yodel calls on retailers to be realistic with Black Friday offers as it looks to grow four fold in 2015
Delivery firm Yodel has called on the major retailers' marketers to be realistic in how they promote Black Friday to consumers – namely speed of delivery – following research which suggested that nearly four times the number of shoppers are planning to place an order online this year compared to last.
Black Friday 2014 saw an estimated £810m spent in one day, according to IMRG.
The study, conducted by the courier firm, claimed that the £810m kitty from last year's event only represented the spend of eight per cent of shoppers. However, as many as 30 per cent of the 6,371 people surveyed said they will participate in the internet promotions this year.
The likes of Argos, Tesco, Currys and Boots were all caught out last year by the unexpected demand with websites slowing, or crashing entirely, under the increased traffic. Meanwhile, deliveries were delayed for many as couriers – including Yodel – were faced with a deluge of parcels.
This year, Yodel is working with retail partners to help them provide accurate daily forecasts and it has already decided to limit its next day capacity. The courier will only accept the parcel volumes agreed with its clients in order to protect service levels.
Yodel executive chairman, Dick Stead – who previously admitted that last year’s Black Friday “caught everyone out” – said: “Part of this joint partnership approach will require retailers to engage their marketing departments, and be responsible in only offering the next-day delivery capacity that has been agreed with their carriers.”
While consumers have come to expect next day delivery options for regular orders, when it comes to Black Friday more than three quarters (76 per cent) of shoppers are happy to wait a longer for orders as long as they’re kept informed about progress.
In fact, over a quarter (27 per cent) would be happy if their order took an extra three days during seasonal sales and 28 per cent would wait an extra two days.
Just a fifth (21 per cent) would only wait one day extra and only 13 per cent said they wouldn’t be prepared to wait at all.
For those who would be loathed to wait longer, almost half (44 per cent) said they would be willing to pay more for next-day delivery for orders placed on Black Friday.
In addition to limiting its next day delivery options, Yodel has spent the past year optimising its network to cope with uplifts in demand caused by events like Black Friday, including the creation of four ‘super’ service centres.
“2014 was the year that online Christmas shopping in the UK changed forever,” explained Stead. “Our research shows that 2015 is set to break the mould once again. It’s reassuring that the majority of consumers are telling us that they are prepared to wait a little longer for their delivery during peak promotions.
“For them the chance to bag a bargain is more important than the speed it arrives, and this will automatically create extra capacity across the industry and enable us to keep prices at a level that retailers and their shoppers expect.”
However, it remains to be seen how retailers will cope with such an increased demand offline. MPs waded in following the "scenes of disorder" at several bricks and mortar stores last year after police were called to some supermarket stores to break up fights between bargain hungry shoppers.
Three MPs criticised the large retailers who participated in last year's Black Friday and argued that it was waste of police time.
An early day motion, which puts forward issues to be discussed in the House of Commons, called on all UK retailers not to mark this event. It appears few have taken notice and the event looks to once again be a firm staple in retailer calendars in 2015.