Christmas Delivery Dates
There are always going to be customers who leave their online gift shopping until the last minute. They expect to receive their order on the next day or even the same day. This year, delivering their boxes on time for Christmas may be harder than ever.
Royal Mail has scheduled 7 days of strike action in December. The dates are:
Thursday 1, Friday 9, Sunday 11, Wednesday 14, Thursday 15, Friday 23 & Saturday 24 December.
Take Action to Avoid Postal Delivery Delays
These strikes are designed to cause disruption during the busiest time of year. However, awareness enables your e-commerce business to manage customer expectations.
Have you considered:
- Bringing forward your date for last orders and promoting this through December on social channels, in email marketing and on your website.
- Offering a pre-order service, with orders being dispatched on Friday 16 Dec (last Royal Mail postal date for 2nd class), giving the best chance of it being received before Christmas.
- Giving a discount or freebie to customers who collect from you.
- Hiring vans and assigning drivers from your team to take on deliveries.
The strikes will likely drive up demand for alternative mail delivery services during December, so, expect reduced availability from all courier services.
Royal Mail has said that Special Delivery & Tracked 24 mail will be prioritised. If an item has to be received before Christmas, use these services.
