Top UK Retailers: Delivery Services and Carriers Used

This report identifies the delivery services, and the carriers, which are used by the retailers which comprise InternetRetailing’s UK Top 500.   The summary report analyses overall usage patterns and makes comparisons with previous years The accompanying database names the carrier/s and service provider/s used for each service by each retailer, where we are able to identify them.

For each of the top UK retailers it answers:

• Which delivery services does the retailer offer?
• Which provider/s does it use to carry them out?

It also answers questions on overall service and carrier usage patterns such as:

• How widely used are the leading carriers for express services and for economy services?
• Which retailers have switched carrier/s?
• What proportion of the top retailers offer same day delivery?
• What proportion offer click and collect via their own stores, via third party parcel shop and locker networks or via both?
• Who are the main providers used for international delivery and two-man delivery? 

The services covered are:

• Standard / economy delivery
• Express / next day delivery
• Click and collect services
• Same day delivery
• Two man delivery
• International delivery

Highlights from the report

While almost all retailers included in the sample offer standard / economy delivery, a significant (and increasing) proportion (25%) do not offer an express / next-day service

• DPD, Royal Mail and Evri are the most widely used carriers across all services with DPD having gained significant share over the last four years.
• For economy services, Royal Mail is the most widely-used carrier with 114 customers out of the 487 who use delivery services using it, followed by DPD, which has 87 - having displaced Evri from second place.
• As in the past, DPD is the most widely used next-day / express carrier, used by 96 customers. Evri, although traditionally an economy carrier, now ranks second as its express services have gained traction across its large customer base. 

While the majority of top retailers in the sample still offer a click and collect option, the biggest surprise in this year’s research has been the significant fall in penetration of this service.

• Having grown steadily, this year saw it fall to lower levels than any time since we started tracking this metric in 2018, with just 57% of retailers offering it
• Usage of own stores for click and collect both continues to be more widespread than usage of third party parcel shop and locker networks and has held up better. The main driver of this year’s fall is a significant reduction in the use of third party networks.

Evri is the most widely used network, having overtaken Collect+. Historically, Evri focused on ‘Send’ parcels, in particular from eBay sellers rather than click and collect but this result suggests it has successfully expanded its focus.

Same day remains a niche service offered by just 13 of the 487 retailers, up from last year but a significant fall since 2019, which was the peak year for the service - when CitySprint attempted to transform the market via its On the dot service.

Two-man delivery is only relevant for a small proportion of retailers (eg carpet and furniture retailers). The leading providers are ArrowXL, Wincanton and BJS but the segment is more fragmented than parcel delivery with significant usage of in-house operations.

DHL is the most widely-used carrier for international. DPD also scored highly, reflecting the company’s recent push to increase its international business using its own European operations and broader networks via La Poste group.

What are the sources and methodology?

The information was gathered through the following sources:

• Service and carrier information provided on the retailers’ websites and checkout modules
• Calls to customer services teams at the retailers
• Press searches

It has been sense-checked and cross-referenced with other sources to produce a detailed record of service usage

The main sample consists of 487 companies drawn from the Top 500. The remainder have been excluded because they do not offer conventional delivery services for a variety of reasons including sale of digital goods, marketplace or franchise operation where the decision is decentralised, food retailers with specific in-house delivery operations or having ceased trading since the list was complied

Nevertheless, it is inevitable that there will be gaps where we have not been able to identify all providers used, providers may have changed or otherwise.