National delivery company Hermes reported one of its best weekends on record, with Black Friday seeing it processing 4.8 million items, up a massive 34% on the same time in 2014.

CEO of Hermes Carole Woodhead said that planning was core to the success, “Despite the massive increase in volumes this year we coped well as a result of our investment and our intensive planning programme with our retail customers.”

The firm delivered most of its parcels on time as well, which was a great benefit to its customers who would have otherwise felt the brunt of a network that was under pressure. Woodhead said, “Despite some challenges around bad weather in the North of the country we were able to deliver on time. We are fully prepared for the peak period which we expect to continue from now until Christmas Eve.”

Hermes has invested heavily in increasing capacity across its network, both to meet the general increase in demand across the year and to handle spikes around the Festive season. With Black Friday now seeming the launch date for the Christmas shopping season, Hermes was well prepared.

The firm has completed a secondary sortation tier at the automated distribution hub in Warrington, which provides the capability to process up to a million parcels a day there. It has also opened another 125 sub depots, and has increased the number of scanners and handheld terminals across the business. It has also added 3,000 couriers to its network.

In forward planning, Hermes has been working closely with retail customers and has analysed forecasted volumes, as well as confirming collection schedules. The delivery company has representatives at clients’ contact centres to to help deal with any enquiries as they arise. In doing so the company works well with clients to achieve their mutually desired outcomes.