Delivery drivers shouldn’t experience difficulty finding work in the coming weeks as national and local lockdowns have further accelerated the growth of home delivery services. Indeed, numerous stores you’d never have imagined starting home delivery are now doing so.
This week, British DIY retailer B&Q announced that for the first time ever, it will be launching a nationwide delivery service for online orders of real Christmas trees. This means anyone having to self-isolate will still be able to have a real Christmas tree in their home.
Self-isolation is naturally one of the main reasons home deliveries have skyrocketed, but the stay-at-home, work-from-home policy is just as an important factor driving this growth. Even the international sandwich shop franchise chain Pret a Manger has just announced it is extending its ‘Dinners By Pret’ delivery service with a new menu as lockdown continues.
ParcelHero believes that Lockdown 2.0 ensures home shopping will grow by 54.97% this month YOY, which means online purchases will overtake in store purchases for the first time this Christmas. The company’s research shows that Brits will spend a record £39.41bn online, narrowly eclipsing High Street sales.
At the same time, the employment website Indeed is currently advertising nearly 20 thousand driver jobs. Of course, this figure just represents a portion of the vacancies available – the overall numbers should be much higher. Berry Recruitment, one of the biggest temporary worker suppliers in Britain, estimates that demand for delivery drivers is running at 30% above supply and that figure could well increase in the last weeks of the year.
Meanwhile, GLS have announced that they expect to be dealing with 30%-40% more volume this autumn and Christmas season. Due to this sizeable increase in demand, the company have invested 150 million euros in the expansion of its European network.
Photo credit @ B&Q