B2C delivery company Hermes reckons that it can reduce the average cost of failed home deliveries by more than 60 per cent.
It calculates that the cost of a failed delivery equates to an additional 24p to the retailer and 22p to the consumer for every parcel sent. It says it can reduce this to 9p to the retailer, and 8p to the customer.
This is based on the latest IMRG figures that show overall failed delivery costs at £500 million a year, divided between the 1.1 billion business-to-consumer deliveries in 2010 in the UK.
Hermes estimates its deliveries are successful first time up to 94 per cent of the time, compared to an average consumer experience of just 83 per cent. It puts this down to its couriers knowing their territory and customers. It has 7,500 UK couriers, each with an average territory of 12 sq miles.
Jon Tobbell, commercial director of Hermes, said “Failed deliveries are costly to both the retail sector and the consumer and pose a considerable risk to the profitability of an organisation. We are committed to working closely with our customers to continually improving our first time delivery rates to avoid this unnecessary expense.”
