Peak Bulletin 2024 – Issue 3
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Introduction
The festive season is in full swing, and it’s shaping up to be a record-breaking period for both retail and delivery. This week, we’re focusing on two visible trends:
- The Rise of Social Commerce
- Delivery Excellence Despite High Volumes and External Challenges
This week’s bulletin provides insights and actionable tips on these trends. From leveraging social commerce to ensuring smooth operations during the busiest shopping weeks, let’s make the most of this pivotal period!
Retail & Consumer Pulse
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Social Commerce: The Key to Capturing Festive Shoppers
The festive season is a prime opportunity for retailers to connect with shoppers seeking gift inspiration, and social commerce is rapidly reshaping how people shop.
Platforms like TikTok and Instagram are now vital tools for engaging tech-savvy consumers who use social media to discover, explore and purchase gifts.
This year the UK social commerce market is forecast to reach almost £7.4 billion in sales, making this festive period a critical time for retailers to embrace this growing trend and align with younger shoppers’ habits.
Fig 1: UK social commerce market to reach £15.7 billion in sales by 2028
Source: Retail Economics, TikTok
The Rise of Social Commerce
- Engaging Younger Shoppers – Platforms like TikTok are leading the charge, with 68% of UK users under 39 years old spending an average of 2 hours 42 minutes daily on the app. With 44% of younger shoppers actively planning to participate in Black Friday and festive shopping, TikTok offers an unrivalled opportunity to capture their attention.
- Driving Discovery and Conversions – TikTok has become a discovery engine, with 74% of UK users finding new brands and products through the app. It’s live shopping features enable users to make instant purchases, reducing barriers and turning social browsing into immediate sales.
- Seamless Shopping Experiences – Social platforms now provide an integrated path to purchase, where consumers can browse, interact, and buy directly within the app. This frictionless experience is essential for capturing sales during the fast-paced festive season.
Fig 2: Preferred channel for product inspiration by age
Source: Retail Economics, TikTok
Social commerce is transforming the way shoppers find and buy gifts during the festive season. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram have become essential spaces for discovery, inspiration, and instant purchasing. By embracing social commerce with captivating content, live events, and seamless shopping experiences, retailers can boost customer engagement over Peak season.
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Delivery Spotlight
Strong Performance Amid Record Volumes
This past week has seen strong parcel volumes across the board, with numbers exceeding customer forecasts as consumers embraced early Black Friday promotions.
Weekend Surge into Cyber Monday
Weekend volumes leading into Cyber Monday were particularly strong, with many retailers reporting an over 50% increase compared to the previous weekend.
Retailers are now transitioning their campaigns from Black Friday banners to Cyber Week sales, continuing to drive volume with heavily discounted promotions. With three weeks of Peak sales still to go, the momentum remains robust.
Carrier Networks Recover and Deliver
Despite localised flooding challenges at the start of last week, carrier networks recovered quickly. Service performance has been outstanding, with no delays reported across the major networks throughout the week and into the weekend.
Positive Outlook Ahead
The outlook for the remainder of Peak is highly positive. Mild weather continues to support smooth operations, reducing potential risks to delivery networks. The focus remains on maintaining exceptional service levels as we progress through this crucial period.
Pro Tips
- Plan for Unexpected Demand / Maintain Operational Agility – With parcel volumes exceeding forecasts, ensure your stock, resources and fulfilment processes can handle surges. Over-prepare to avoid capacity constraints. With three weeks of Peak left, stay flexible. Be ready to pivot if consumer behaviour shifts unexpectedly.
- Communicate Delivery Confidence – Highlight the reliability of carrier networks in your customer communications. Reassuring shoppers of on-time delivery builds trust and encourages conversions during this high-pressure season.
- Optimise for Mild Weather – Take advantage of the favourable conditions to offer extended delivery windows or next-day delivery for late shoppers. This can enhance the customer experience and reduce last-minute pressure.
Join the Conversation
According to Hannah Lia, Operations Director at Hampers.com:
“It’s usually close to the ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ finale when we see people really get into Christmas, and all of a sudden our orders more than double overnight. So for us, it’s all about using clever and creative ways to spread out the demand in December.
We work closely on carrier capacities daily with GFS and our account managers. So if we need to chop and change carriers, we were able to do that with great flexibility because we’ve got multiple carriers.”
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