Yodel preparing for Black Friday
Parcel carrier Yodel has outlined the plans it has put in place to handle “the biggest industry peak in history” over this year Christmas shopping season. In a statement issued today (9 November), Yodel said that it has spent the last ten months preparing for this year’s Christmas peak and has invested heavily in its operations throughout the year to improve efficiency and capacity in its network.
“We want this year’s festive peak to go smoothly and we’re working incredibly hard to deliver for our clients and for the consumers waiting for their internet shopping,” commented Dick Stead, Yodel’s executive chairman. ” There is finite capacity in the industry, and our network, and so we are firmly agreeing volumes with retailers in advance, so we only receive what we’re equipped to deliver.”
Yodel said that its clients will receive daily performance updates and advance weather forecasts, so they can inform their customers of delivery times and forewarn of any possible issues at point of order. Retailers are also being encouraged to provide accurate customer contact data, so that Yodel can send “proactive alerts” to keep consumers up to date on the progress of their order.
Yodel has also asked retailers to consider how they marketed their promotions and the delivery options offered.
“Last year’s 24 hour flash sales caused tidal waves of parcels as overloaded trailers arrived each day over the cyber weekend,” said Stead. “Simply by spreading the duration of the sales and offering a wider range of delivery options, rather than using 24 hour delivery as the default service for all orders, retailers can instantly help to create more capacity in the parcel industry and enable us to offer a consistent, high standard and cost effective service during peak periods.
“This year we’ve engaged early with retailers’ marketing departments, as well as their operational teams. With 2015 due to see even greater volumes than last year, there is no doubt that we as an industry, are facing a big challenge, but we’ve been working closely with retailers and our plans are in place to process record volumes of parcels this year.”
In terms of its own preparations, Yodel said that it has invested heavily over the course of 2015 and, for the peak, it is bringing 200 additional HGVs and 500 additional trailers into its transport operation to move parcels from retailers’ warehouses to its central sorts, and then onto its local service centres for onward delivery.
“Recruitment of 7,000 additional people to assist in the peak season is also ongoing, with a particular focus on final mile drivers and couriers,” said Yodel. The carrier has also acquired seven new permanent ‘super’ service centres, which have boosted its final mile capacity by around 22 per cent, as well as opening two temporary satellite service centres and building temporary extensions to 18 existing sites for peak.
As Post&Parcel reported previously, Yodel has appointed a dedicated peak programme director to coordinate seasonal plans. It has also increased its delivery service to seven days a week as standard and will be running a central peak control tower in Wednesbury, West Midlands to manage trailer movements and operations.
