Market Trends

The last-minute free trade agreement struck with the EU has been catastrophic for UK businesses and their EU customers. Kate Lester, founder and chief executive of Diamond Logistics, offers an honest evaluation of the challenges and some advice on how to guide clients during this difficult phase. With so little time to prepare, the UK was plunged into chaos following the conclusion of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement on Christmas Eve 2020. This was despite careful…

Brexit bureaucracy is now creating delays and pushing up costs, says international delivery expert ParcelHero. It says up to 20% of parcels and trucks are being stopped at some borders. Brexit delays and costs are escalating rapidly, warns the international courier services expert ParcelHero. The parcel comparison site says couriers and retailers are now struggling with the burden of complex new paperwork, with 20% of parcels and the same proportion of trucks being stopped at…

With nearly 1 in 4 UK hauliers having already lost business due to Brexit, they reveal whether they’re prepared for the post-Brexit transition period. A new study reveals that many UK hauliers remain unprepared for the end of the Brexit transition period, with just 3% stating that they are totally prepared for the transition. 84% of respondents stated that they needed more clarity on border legislation changes from the government Specialist haulage solutions platform, Haulage…

Black Friday 2014 turned from a retailer’s dream to a delivery nightmare as overwhelming demand crashed many UK websites and snapped supply chains. ParcelHero fears a lockdown Black Friday will be even worse this year.  The home delivery expert ParcelHero is forecasting an £8.49bn monster Black Friday-Cyber Monday weekend. It warns that stores must learn from the disaster of Black Friday 2014 or delivery chains could snap once again this year. ParcelHero’s Head of Consumer…

This Christmas is set to be the busiest ever for the UK’s ecommerce sector. In part, the demand for home deliveries in 2020 is being fuelled by Covid-19 – but not entirely. In fact, the pandemic is just accelerating an existing trend. Over the last twenty years, the UK’s ecommerce sector has seen year-on-year growth. While in 2001 ecommerce represented just 0.3% of sales in the sector, by 2019 it accounted for 20% of all…

Lockdown had the unexpected side effect of giving rise to a leap in the number of new companies being formed in the UK, with ecommerce delivery start-ups leading the pack, according to a new study commissioned by Royal Mail. During the lockdown period from March to July 2020, 315,000 companies were incorporated* in the UK – a 7 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2019. In the second quarter of 2020 from…

New report reveals how the app is going from strength to strength with new restaurant and High Street partners Data from Uber Eats has today revealed that orders have grown 150% in the UK*, as it now looks to support the High Street through the remainder of 2020.  This comes as 12,000 new restaurant partners have joined the app since the start of the year, with famous brands including Burger King, Asda, Iceland and Caffe…

Latest research indicates a growing demand to fill positions at all levels and a rise in existing workers seeking new roles The supply chain sector will experience a job market boom over the coming months as over 60 percent of workers in warehouse, logistics and delivery spent time during lockdown searching for a new role, according to latest research. All stages of the supply chain experienced a growing increase in vacancies during September 2020, with…

Online retailers and couriers are experiencing record peak volumes and many are stretched to full capacity. ParcelHero says the worst is yet to come as Christmas 2020 could be 50% busier than last year. It’s urging retailers to work closely with their delivery partners, otherwise a looming driver shortage and strained supply chains will mean Christmas chaos. A capacity crisis is set to cause delivery chaos this Christmas, fears the home delivery expert ParcelHero. This…

UK car production declines -44.6% in August with 51,039 units rolling off factory lines. Ongoing coronavirus crisis stalls efforts to ramp up output with weak demand overseas compounded by heavy domestic losses.  Production so far this year down -40.2% with a loss of 348,821 units worth more than £9.5bn to UK car makers. As pandemic’s second wave engulfs UK, sector welcomes new support for jobs but warns that demand-hit manufacturing sector not yet out of…