UK delivery firm Evri has announced record parcel volumes over the peak festive period, including its best-ever week following Black Friday, where it delivered 24.7 million parcels between November 30 and December 7 – up 20.8% on the same period in 2023.
The company grew its total parcel volumes by 12% year-on-year to 173 million over the nine weeks to December 28, 2024, and delivered an average of 2.7 million parcels a day during this period. Its busiest day was December 4, when it delivered almost 3.8 million parcels.
Evri chief executive Martijn De Lange said, “We continue to see fast growth toward our five-year target to become a billion-parcel-a-year business, and the Christmas trading period was no exception, with our delivery volumes demonstrating that retailers’ online offerings fared much better than expected. We saw record volumes of deliveries and double-digit growth as generous shoppers treated loved ones and friends.
“During a festive season that saw approximately 40 million UK adults doing most of their Christmas shopping online, the investments in our network and customer service paid off, sustaining our yearly average of more than 99% of standard parcels being delivered on time. We recruited an extra 9,000 people to prepare for our busiest trading period, and our amazing couriers and colleagues stopped at nothing as they came together to deliver for our retail clients and shoppers.”
To cope with demand, Evri invested £35m (US$44m) during the peak period, with more delivery units and 8,000 extra couriers recruited, with another 1,000 added across other parts of the business. It also boosted its customer service to make it easier for customers to contact the company, and provided new delivery preference options for people with accessibility needs.