A change in attitudes to parcel deliveries is set to double the volume of items which UK consumers have shipped to alternative collection points rather than their homes over the next five years, according to Global Freight Solutions’ analysis of the pre-Christmas parcel industry peak.
The parcel carrier reckons that less than three per cent of parcel volumes are currently delivered to non-residential locations such as locker boxes, parcel shops and to stores via click and collect.
But during the 2011 peak, the number of packages sent by e-commerce firms during November and December 2011 was 15 per cent higher than the previous year.
And GFS forecasts a “significant increase” in the number of shoppers opting for more flexible deliveries.
GFS director Simon Veale said that greater awareness of alternatives to home deliveries and wider availability of the infrastructure needed to fulfil them would see them process one in every 20 consumer parcels by the end of 2016.
