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Yodel has promised booksellers it will succeed in delivering all parcels on time this Christmas if major customers like Amazon agree to a price hike and a new business model is put in place to meet growing online demand.
Yodel c.e.o. Jonathan Smith said that in the past two-three years deliveries to high street retailers dropped by 25%, mirroring the decline in town centre outlets, while deliveries from online businesses to consumers increased, particularly over Christmas, to up to 11 times the average number previously handled.
The company was criticised for failing to deliver parcels on time to independent booksellers last December, hampering their ability to compete with retailers such as Amazon. Yodel (formerly DHL Domestic), whose customers include Amazon, Bertrams, Gardners, Asda and Tesco, is renegotiating contracts and plans up to a double-digit percentage increase for some businesses that deliver direct to consumers.
It will not raise prices for business-to-business deliveries, Smith said, but intends to talk with these companies and plan better around timing of promotions.
Smith said a price hike would enable him to offer seven-day service during December, with more staff employed and an SMS service giving delivery updates. Smith said: “The peaks in the market are increasing as the year goes on. We need to find the model that will encompass those increases.”
David Ford from Saltaire Bookshop, Bradford, said: “The failures to deliver on time around Christmas impacted badly on my business and that it will happen again is a worry.”