Couriers busier than at Christmas as Irish shop online in droves
For some courier companies, recent weeks have been busier than Christmas or Black Friday, as more consumers move their shopping habits online.
From sportswear and equipment to children's toys, cosmetics, and even pet food, Irish households are buying online in their droves - and the trend is showing no signs of slowing.
DPD, Ireland's biggest courier company, delivered some 700,000 parcels last week. That is up from 585,000 in mid-April and 560,000 over the Black Friday-Cyber Monday weekend in 2019, which is typically the busiest shopping period of the year.
DPD Ireland chief executive Des Travers said the online shopping trend is likely to continue to grow.
“Parcel volumes continue to rise at DPD," he said.
"Volumes last week were a whopping 90% higher than the same week last year with more than 700,000 parcels delivered around the country.
"Consumer habits have changed dramatically as a result of Covid-19. Online shopping is now common practice across all age groups and despite the re-opening of retail establishments later this summer, there is no doubt that for many shoppers online will continue to be their preferred shopping method."
Some 90% of all DPD deliveries are to households and the company's city centre fleets have had to be redeployed to the suburbs, where things are getting busier.
Mr Travers said: "Some businesses are up more than 1,000% on their trade at the beginning of March, in particular, sportswear and sports equipment, cosmetics, children's toys, pet food, and accessories. While many of these customers had existing online presences, they had to grow these to meet the new demand and also work within the Covid-19 restrictions, as we did ourselves."
Electronics and beauty products are also in high demand.
An Post has also reported an increase in parcel volumes in recent weeks, but the company has not released specific figures.
It is not all luxury items, though. Kantar Worldpanel has also reported a major increase in Irish households shopping online for groceries, with 10% of homes shopping online for groceries in the last four weeks, spending an extra €20.6m.
