Online shopping has steadily risen year on year, so it\u2019s no surprise to see a surge in the last few months of the year as the festive season approaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, 2020 is a year like no other\nand the traditional Christmas surge has been supercharged this year as shoppers\nrely more than ever on delivery companies to keep them well stocked up for the\nholidays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Covid-19 restrictions in various\nparts of the UK have led to more people going down the online route. Whether\nit\u2019s reduced opening hours for certain shops or the fear of mixing in large\ngroups in the high street, the coronavirus pandemic has seen a noticeable\nupsurge in online shopping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The knock-on effect of this is that\nthere will be more delivery drivers on the road in the weeks leading up to\nChristmas. Customers will also be crossing their fingers that everything will\narrive on time as couriers work around the clock to meet delivery commitments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After lockdowns earlier in the year\nacross many parts of the UK, delivery companies already knew that their\nservices were in high demand. Even small, independent retailers had to quickly\nadapt to the \u2018new normal\u2019 of selling online have had no previous experience of\ndoing so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For retailers, having a reliable courier to partner<\/a> with was essential in meeting their customers\u2019 needs. Couriers themselves had to learn how to deal with the extra workload while ensuring contactless deliveries go to the people they were supposed to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore, delivery companies <\/a>will have not been surprised to see the usual Christmas upsurge increase further due to Covid restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, in late October, Royal Mail began hiring extra staff<\/a> to deal with already-high demand. Industry experts have\nalready predicted that online shopping in 2020 will far outstrip the 2019\nfigure. It is believed that online shopping will increase by\nalmost 35% this year,<\/a> to over \u00a3141\nbillion and will represent almost a third of all total retail sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And it won\u2019t just be the items that\npeople are getting delivered to their own homes to then wrap and present as\ngifts. With fewer people travelling to see loved ones over the Christmas\nperiod, there will be an increase in gifts, food and drink being delivered to\nother addresses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While cars might be sparser on the\nroads this Christmas, courier vehicles will fill in the gaps. They will have to\ndeal with greater workloads, which means longer hours and venturing to\nhard-to-reach places that previously experience low demand for deliveries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The pandemic itself has forced\ndelivery workers to adapt some additional measures. With contact intended to be\nminimised, couriers often have to leave items on doorsteps, take photos and\nprovide more accurate tracking information.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIncreased deliveries put pressure on\ncouriers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n