New Zealand Post is preparing for heavy parcel volumes next week as Kiwis go online to snap up Black Friday offers tomorrow, and is ramping up capacity for an expected 20% rise in peak season volumes.
The postal operator’s business marketing manager Chris Wong said that while Black Friday sales first began in the United States, many companies in New Zealand have now jumped on board. “Black Friday (23/11) is now one of the biggest single shopping days of the year, up there with China’s Singles day (11/11) and Cyber Monday (26/11).”
He pointed out: “Our experience shows us that a few days after these sales we start to see huge volumes of parcels coming through our network. Between 2014 and 2017 the annual parcel volume sent through NZ Post increased by 21%. Across the same period though, the average parcel volume sent just in November rocketed up by almost 50% thanks to Singles Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.”
Although Black Friday was originally a single day of traditional bricks and mortar shop sales, it now spreads out over a week and includes online sales, all around the world and in New Zealand.
The company’s eCommerce report, released earlier this year, showed that New Zealanders’ online shopping spend increased by 13%, driven by a 23% increase with offshore online shops. Spend with domestic retailers increased 9%, ten times the rate of local ‘bricks and mortar’ retail.
Meanwhile, Chief Operating Officer Mark Stewart said the company expects an overall 20% rise in parcel volumes during the end-of-year peak season. “Last year we processed and delivered 2 million additional parcels in November and December. This year we’re expecting that figure to be at least 2.4 million.”
As part of its preparations, NZ Post, which has some 6,000 regular workers, has hired an extra 600 people in the lead up to another record-breaking Christmas.
“We deliver 1 in 2 parcels bought online in New Zealand, and we know how important this time of year is for our retailers and their customers, so we’ve been planning for this all year,” Stewart said.
“We’ve got more people working with us, and we’re increasing our Auckland fleet with another 100 vans out there delivering for our customers. Later, we’ll have around 200 more vans countrywide making sure that parcels are getting to where they need to be. We’ve also got another, fourth 737 plane for extra air capacity, in operation from even earlier than last year.”
