Hermes reports record Black Friday volumes

The UK arm of Hermes has reported that it had its busiest Black Friday Weekend to date after handling in excess of 4.8m parcels. whilst also recording its highest levels of service.

This follows a significant year-long investment programme, which included the opening of its £31m Midlands Super Hub in Rugby.

The firm saw a 7% growth in volumes compared to the same period last year, when it processed 4.5m items over the weekend itself. This year, the company handled 9.1m parcels during the seven days following Black Friday.

To prepare for the peak season, which incorporates Black Friday Weekend and the upcoming Christmas period, Hermes embarked on an investment plan to increase capacity and operational efficiency.

This included the new £31m Midlands “Super Hub” in Rugby which Hermes opened earlier this year.

The company added 85 sub depots to its existing network, whilst recruiting an extra 4,500 temporary self-employed couriers to fulfil deliveries. Hermes has also added 490 trailers to its fleet, as well as 230 additional depot vehicles and 160 tractor units.

Hermes also reported that it achieved its highest Net Promoter Scores (NPS) to date. Over the past year, Hermes has seen its consumer ‘communication’ score jump from 8.2 to 8.9, whilst the ‘timeliness of couriers’ also rose to 8.9, up from 8.6 in November 2016. The score for parcels left in a ‘safe place’ grew from 8.4 to 8.7, whilst the ‘condition of packaging’ and ‘condition of contents’ stood at 9.1 and 9.2 respectively.

Martijn de Lange, CEO at Hermes, commented: “Our meticulous planning and ongoing investment has ensured we have been able to deliver another hugely successful Black Friday Weekend for our valued customers. Our network and infrastructure comfortably coped with the additional volumes. Over the coming weeks we will continue to work closely with our clients to understand their forecasts for Christmas and to guarantee the busy festive period will be equally as effective.”