Trust in online will create a late, late bumper Christmas

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: Trust in online will create a late, late bumper Christmas.

New figures from MetaPack's eCommerce Tracker* reveal that the Christmas peak will be later this year, more in line with the 2010 trend. "Consumer confidence is resulting in people leaving their Christmas shopping until later in the year. More online sales will move from November into December," said Patrick Wall, MetaPack Founder and CEO. "There was mild weather last year and the delivery quality was generally high. Consumers are expecting the same this year."

MetaPack's customers have grown by 32% so far this year. Christmas sales actually start in September. The interesting trend is how these sales then grow, not year-on-year, but week-on-week in the run up to Christmas. This week MetaPack expect week-on-week sales to increase by nearly 30% and the following week, increase again, by over 35%. The cumulative effect is an increase of over 150% between September and the end of November.

There is an overriding general trend, regardless of weather, for sales to move closer to Christmas, despite retailers encouraging people to shop early.  "This is positive news for the delivery industry, showing the increasing confidence customers are placing in the retailers and parcel carriers to get their Christmas purchases processed and delivered to them in time. Now as an industry, we have to brace ourselves, focus and deliver for these critical six weeks" explains Patrick Wall.

^{*About the eCommerce Tracker}

^{MetaPack is a Delivery Management solution, and its eCommerce Tracker includes over 70 of UK's top 100 retailers as well of hundreds small to medium enterprises. The "eCommerce Tracker" feeds real-time despatch information on customers' despatching volume.}