Delivery giant Evri has revealed that parcel volumes jumped over the key festive period despite disruption from storms in the run up to Christmas.
The parcel firm said it was boosted by soaring demand after Black Friday, as cash-strapped shoppers looked for Christmas deals online.
Bosses at Evri suggested the rise in deliveries meant that retailers saw “better than expected” online deliveries ahead of Christmas.
Evri delivered 173 million parcels over the nine weeks to December 28, up 12% against the same period last year, despite “disruption caused by volatile weather, such as Storm Darragh in early December”.
It said this its biggest individual trading week for parcels on record, delivering 24.7 million parcels in the week after Black Friday.
It reported that post-Black Friday activity was up 20.8% against the same period in 2023.
The company said it saw high demand after Black Friday and Cyber Monday as customers opted for last-minute deliveries.
Volumes from overseas online retailers and marketplaces also grew strongly over the festive period, up 24% year-on-year, while domestic volumes rose 6.9%.
Martijn De Lange, chief executive of Evri, said: “We continue to see fast growth towards our five-year target to become a billion parcel a year business and the Christmas trading period was no exception with our delivery volumes demonstrating that retailers online offerings fared much better than expected.
“We saw record volumes of deliveries and double-digit growth as generous shoppers treated loved ones and friends.
“During a festive season that saw approximately 40 million UK adults doing most of their Christmas shopping online, the investments in our network and customer service paid off – sustaining our yearly average of more than 99% of standard parcels being delivered on time.”
