Black Friday 2021 – Just as busy, but greener
Just as we saw in 2020, there was a large peak in shipping volumes on Black Friday (241% more than an ‘average’ Friday) and Cyber Monday (198% more than an ‘average’ Monday).
These volumes are indeed slightly less than last year, perhaps as a result of many companies choosing to take part in a different way (Rituals & Keen Footwear taking part in Green Friday for example) or some businesses not taking part at all (Fairphone offered 0% off everything and encouraged consumers to only buy what they really need.)
Capacity spread over more carriers
After consumers suffered from extensive shipping delays in 2020, many brands and retailers spread their capacity over multiple carriers in 2021 and that has paid off. In 2021 there were very few capacity problems, and the use of ‘Challenger” services significantly increased on the Paazl platform.
Increase in sustainable delivery
What we are glad to report on though, is the significant increase in the use of sustainable delivery options during BFCM week in 2021 vs. last year. Paazl saw an increase from just over 4% in 2020, to well over 7% in 2021.
Sustainable Delivery makes inroads during the peak season
Pick Up Points are generally considered a more sustainable delivery option due to their high delivery success rate and the fact that many people walk, bike or take public transport to collect their packages. We combined the shipments to Pick Up Points with those made by our carriers that use Bike, CO2 Neutral and electric delivery vehicles to get an approximate look at how consumers view sustainability during Black Friday week 2021 (Monday 22/11/2021 – Monday 29/11/2021). In 2020, this number was just over 4%. In 2021, there was a jump up to 7,3%.
We believe that promoting sustainable delivery during checkout, as well as the use of multi-carrier shipping to provide customers with more delivery options has encouraged this increase and we expect sustainable options to make up an even greater number in 2022.
‘We expect sustainable delivery options to make up an even greater number in 2022.’
Challengers on the rise during Black Friday week.
In the past year, last-mile delivery challengers (Fietskoeriers.nl, Budbee, Red je Pakketje/Instabox, Trunkrs & Packaly for example) have increased their presence in the market enormously. Black Friday 2021 is a prime example of this. We saw the number of shipments made by ‘challenger’ delivery services during Black Friday increase tenfold versus last year.
Last year’s (2020) peak period was remembered for the significant capacity issues faced by incumbent shipping services. Many businesses and consumers experienced significant delivery issues and shortly after this, Paazl saw a large increase in the use of challengers as a back-up to its customer’s standard delivery option.
Conclusion
The trend of spreading Black Friday/Cyber Monday capacity over a variety of different carriers, as well as delivery options seems to be the new standard when it comes to dealing with peak season capacity. The challengers have taken a far bigger piece of the Black Friday delivery pie in 2021, and we expect that number to increase significantly as more and more brands & retailers move towards multi-carrier shipping.
Consumers have put their money where their mouths are in terms of sustainability. The increase in the use of more sustainable delivery options shows that consumers are conscious about it, and that brands should be aware that they no longer offer a sustainable last-mile option at their own risk.
Paazl is a leading shipping service provider (SSP) for brands & retailers in e-commerce. Its all-in-one, multi-carrier platform unburdens the delivery process across webshop, warehouse, customer service and returns. Paazl enables logistical flexibility, consumer loyalty, cost transparency and (inter)national growth. Customers include industry leaders such as G-Star Raw, Rituals, VanMoof, Tag Heuer, Leenbakker and Under Armour.