Will images like this one, of what looks like an empty shopping center, become the norm because of Covid-19? In the current global situation, where the world is divided between countries in lockdown, countries with restrictions and vaccination campaigns getting started in others, it seems that last year's shopping numbers, that saw around 28 billion euros spent in online shopping and 58 billion euros spent in stores are going to be reversed in 2020.
The increase in online ordering, that is probably going to have an impact on the food and drinks sector for Christmas and New Year's Eva, has meant and will mean business will have to rely on carriers to get their parcels delivered. Delivery firms seem to have heavily invested to expand their capacity: the British company DPD has spent £200m (€220m) to provide more next-day deliveries, on vehicles, regional depots and technology, and has recruited 3,500 new drivers and 2,500 new full-time staff. Tim Jones, DPD director of marketing, has recently declared that “Parcel volumes have been up by an average of more than 40% year-on-year since March and we are planning for a similar uplift during the Christmas period.”
This is great news for business, though the huge demand of deliveries has to cope with the loss of 250,000 EU nationals that used to work as drivers or warehouse workers, that might cause the same chaos the increase in the Black Friday shopping popularity brought in 2014. Nearly one-in-three online shoppers experienced problems with their orders that Christmas, 49% suffered from missed deliveries due to overstretched companies’ erratic delivery patterns, while 45% experienced late deliveries or never received their goods.
So, drivers are definitely in demand: what about vans? Van makers are also reporting brisk business, as fleets recruit vehicles to take the strain. Figures from SMMT showed LCV registrations grew up 13.3% with 28,753 vehicles registered in the month. November also showed an 8.8% growth in all the van categories compared to 2019. Growing demand in the new van market has also filtered down to the used market, where used prices have risen by 26% during 2020, according to Aston Barclay figures. Average prices rose in Q3 by 4.2% (£255) to £6,204, a massive 26% price rise in 2020 from a Q1 average of £4,923 to £6,204 in Q3.
Photo by Ron Dauphin on Unsplash
