While e-tailers from ASOS to Amazon and Argos were pushing their Christmas online order dates right up to Christmas Eve last year, new research from the London-headquartered delivery service has found a significant demand for deliveries on Christmas Day itself, with 20% of shoppers saying they would pay up to £5 extra for a December 25th delivery. Could this be the future for home delivery and courier services?
ParcelHero’s Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks MILT, comments: “Last year Brits spent £1bn online on Christmas Day. For the first time a number of online retailers reported taking more orders on Christmas Day than Boxing Day, the traditional start of the sales season. Several retailers actually kicked-off their sales on the 25th; but not one retailer actually delivers items on the big day.”
Food delivery companies such as Uber Eats and Just Eat are already offering Christmas Day deliveries, Jinks highlights – “so the next obvious step is online same-day deliveries on the 25th itself. And nearly 20% of shoppers told us they would pay up to £5 extra for a Christmas Day delivery if it got them out of an embarrassing situation or enabled them to spend gift vouchers and get their items immediately.”
Jinks provides the details of the research. “ParcelHero’s renowned Christmas deadlines tool gives all the major stores’ final order dates; some of which are as late as the 24th. But there are several good reasons why customers told us they would want the option of a Christmas Day delivery. For example, some respondents told us they had been presented with unexpected gifts on the day in the past, with nothing to hand over in return. How much embarrassment could be saved if they were able to say, “Yours is just about to arrive”? And several shoppers told us that their children had been left disappointed on Christmas Day because they had been bought the wrong toy or were forgotten by a relative. A same-day order would soon restore the Christmas spirit.”
Jinks suggests the debut of Christmas Day delivery could also see the emergence of the “second chance” Christmas gift: an emergency option if you feel you’ve bought the wrong present. “It’s not a great feeling when your loved one has clearly spent a fortune on an incredibly thoughtful gift for you, but that last-minute kitchen blender and novelty jumper you bought them clearly left them distinctly underwhelmed. How great to be able to have a second chance on the day itself,” he says.
‘And, of course, we have all experienced the pang of Christmas Day disappointment ourselves; as hoped-for items fail to materialise amongst the new socks and bath products, despite all the hints. Last year Brits were given £2.2bn of unwanted Christmas gifts, according to eBay. How great it would be to be able to spend your gift vouchers on something you actually want that would still arrive on the big day itself,” he suggests.
Of course there is one major sticking point when it comes to Christmas deliveries. “Who would want to be out delivering on the 25th?” asks Jinks. “Changing retail customs on sensitive days is a delicate issue. When John Major’s Government introduced Sunday trading back in 1994 it was highly controversial, but consumers eventually embraced Sunday shopping; perhaps the same will hold true for Christmas Day deliveries?” he wonders. “Not everyone in the UK takes part in Christian festivals, for example, while other distribution centre workers and drivers might be grateful to avoid reruns of Jingle All the Way and earn what would presumably be a significant bonus for delivering on Christmas Day itself.”
While there is conceivably a sizeable demand for a Christmas Day delivery service, however, as yet, even the e-commerce trailblazers at Amazon have not taken the leap…