The Retailer Winter Edition 2023

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Leaders in the sector are also faced with nav igating how home delivery fits into a more sustainable future. Last-mile delivery represents one of the most polluting and carbon intensive components of the retail supply chain, and the World Economic Forum has estimated that if the rate of online shopping growth continues, emissions from last-mile deliveries will increase by a third by 2030. Swapping to electric vehi cles and using alternative, greener, fuels will play a part in becoming more planet-friendly – as will utilising local resources, like the Post Office, fully.

To meet these needs, many companies are focusing on automation and AI in fulfilment. In September of this year, for example, Evri opened its new automated parcel distribution hub, which increased the company’s overall parcel processing capacity to 4.2 million par cels a day. Similarly, The Very Group, which has the same owners as Yodel, opened a new automated fulfilment centre last year, which slashed dispatch time down from four hours to thirty minutes, allowing the ecommerce giant to move the cut-off time for ordering next-day deliveries from 7pm to 10pm. We’re also seeing businesses roll out sophisticated package tracking services. DPD’s customer app, for example, allows users to see exactlywhere their parcel is at any given point, and to change the day or place of delivery from their phone. While significant thought and investment has been channeled into outbound delivery, the same cannot be said for reverse logistics. Returning parcels to retailers remains a rela tively underdeveloped, and consequentially highly costly, process. While there are certainly pockets of innovation –Amazon has developed returns lockers, in-store returns kiosks, and label-free returns – most businesses are still in very early stages.

It is hard to imagine UK retail without delivery companies, which play such a critical role in our retail community. So here’s saluting the achievements of Royal Mail, Evri, DPD Group, Parcel Force, DHL, Yodel, UPS, Collect Plus and the Post Office. We are all quick to complain on the rare occasion things go wrong with home deliveries – but we shouldn’t forget the billions of occasions when delivery companies get things right!

Elliott Goldstein www.thembsgroup.co.uk elliott.goldstein@thembsgroup.co.uk

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While significant thought and investment has been channeled into outbound delivery, the same cannot be said for reverse logistics.”