17 Million Christmas Parcels ‘Will Arrive Late’ In The UK This Year

About 17 million parcels worth nearly £700 million will arrive late in the UK this Christmas, a study has warned.

The presents, worth a total of £695 million, will miss the delivery time promised by the retailer, according to supply chain experts LCP Consulting.

It is estimated that one in ten of the £1 billion worth of orders placed on Black Friday will arrive after the promised delivery slot.

About 2.2 million parcels ordered last Friday are in danger of arriving late.

Orders worth £75 million will miss their delivery times and another £31 million worth of parcels will need to be redelivered because the recipient is not at home.

The number of shoppers expecting next day delivery has gone up from five per cent last year to 20% this year, adding four million parcels.

Stuart Higgins, retail partner at LCP Consulting, said: “Retailers continue to pursue a faster and freer agenda which is simply placing too much pressure on their back-end infrastructure and carrier partners to deliver.

“With one in ten deliveries risking failure this Christmas, retailers need to ensure they don’t promise what they can’t deliver or the customers will simply find a competitor who can.”

The study said retailers’ returns services are also lacking.

(Picture: Rex Features)