UPS peak expectations

UPS has announced that it expects to deliver more than 700 million packages globally over the Black Friday and Christmas shopping periods, up 14% from the peak delivery period in 2015. However, UPS also said that research is showing that the extension of Black Friday campaigns over multiple days previously has diluted some of the impulse “buy now” deals – driving sales volumes higher on the day before Black Friday itself.

UPS continued: “As seasonal shopping becomes increasingly global, these once US-specific milestones are gaining more traction and popularity in the UK. We’re now seeing more retailers extend these milestones from just one day into longer promotional periods, to better manage the volume of orders received.

“UPS expects this year’s volume to exceed in the same period in 2015 – this of course has many drivers, some in relation to new product roll-outs and changes in the e-commerce market. During this year’s peak delivery week, December 19-23, globally UPS expects to exceed 30 million packages daily, which is 12 million more than a typical non-peak day.”

UPS also commented on the impact of “Brexit” on the retail sector, saying: “Thus far, UPS has not seen a slowdown – in fact, we reported a Q3 export volume growth of more than 15% over the same period last year. It is possible this growth is due to the exchange rates that have made UK goods cheaper recently.”