Hermes announces busiest ever peak period

The UK’s second largest consumer delivery company, Hermes, has confirmed that it has had its busiest peak period to date and achieved its highest service levels, as the predicted rise in online shopping continues. However it has reported that volumes were pretty steady throughout December compared to previous year, with consumers choosing not to leave it until the last minute. Gary Winter, Sales & Marketing Director at Hermes, explained: “For the past few years we have seen consumers leaving it later and later to send Christmas gifts which has been a big challenge for delivery companies. However, this year that didn’t happen, possibly because a number of retailers started their sales earlier than usual and also because consumers are becoming more aware of how things like bad weather can hamper delivery.”

In December Hermes experienced its highest volume period at 21 million parcels – an overall increase of 14% on the previous year – successfully delivering for leading retail customers including Debenhams, John Lewis, Next and ASOS. In one night alone it handled a record 1 million parcels.

Gary Winter, continues: “We started our preparation for peak back in February and have invested heavily in our infrastructure and customer service teams to ensure that we would be ready to support our customers.

“This year we also offered our existing customers a unique money back guarantee which meant that every parcel that entered the Hermes network, with a UK mainland address, by 23.59 on Friday 20 December would be delivered in time for Christmas – with a minimum of one delivery attempt.

This was designed to provide peace of mind for retailers and their customers during the Christmas peak period and also help avoid a last minute rush.

“All of these measures paid off for us and our customers as we achieved high levels of service throughout this difficult period with 98% first time delivery for our standard service – up 2.6% on last year.”

The myHermes delivery solution, which is ordered online with items collected by courier direct from the door, handled over 1 million parcels in the month of December, an increase 170% on the previous year. This service continues to be popular with businesses using auction sites, marketplaces and other Internet sales as well as consumers. The myHermes Parcelshop network, which now totals 3,000 outlets, handled over half a million parcels – an increase of 200% on last year.