Online orders hit a mini-peak in July -14 per cent higher than last year, according to the latest IMRG MetaPack UK Delivery Index.
However, the number of attempted or carded deliveries rose at the same time, with ‘carded’ deliveries around 6.9 per cent of all orders – the highest since September 2013.
Nevertheless, the UK e-retail market is on track for year-on-year volume growth of 19 per cent.
Andrew Starkey, head of e-logistics at IMRG, said: “We may speculate that the increase in carded deliveries is due to the summer holiday period, with delivery agents not on regular routes and consumers not being at home, but this did not happen last year. This is therefore an area where retailers should examine their current performance to see if there is a genuine issue.”
