Hermes ready for the Christmas rush

Delivery firm Hermes UK believe that they are ready for the 2017 peak season.

Core to the coming spike in demand will be the new £31 million Midlands Super Hub that is now running at full operational speed. The delivery company also has 5,00 temporary couriers supporting its permanent drivers.

The Managing Director of Hermes, Martijn de Lange says that planning for the peak season is now a year round affair, even while the season itself only takes two or so months.

Of core importance to the operation is the Rugby Super Hub that opened in August, and which has raised Hermes’ overall capacity by 45%. The firm says that it ‘will be firing on all cylinders’ come November.

“We have been averaging between 800,000 and 900,000 parcels a day off peak this year. At the moment, this has moved up to about one million,” said de Lange. “At peak, we expect to be doing between 1.7m and 1.8m a day.” Last year Hermes managed 1.5 million to 1.6 million parcels a day in throughput.

The Super Hub is ready for expansion as Hermes business grows, and has capacity to meet future peaks. Projections are that Black Friday won’t be that much of a spike, and that there will be promotions throughout the festive season so there won’t be too many overall surges that caused so much problems in the past.

As well as the Super Hub, Hermes has been investing in communications and IT.

“Our new website and app, that we are launching next year, are about improving and personalizing the customers’ delivery experience,” said de Lange. “We want the customer to feel informed and in control – tracking and managing their own deliveries.” With the new app and communication tools, they will know when to expect their deliveries, who is making their deliveries, and they can also choose from a range of alternative delivery options.”
 
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