SME Delivery Driver Investment
New research from Vimcar that small ecommerce businesses (SMEs) are investing in their own delivery drivers, as the driver shortage continues.
Research Findings
In a survey of 100 small and medium ecommerce retailers based in the UK, two thirds of online retailers have invested into their own fleet of drivers.
The main reason behind this shift is to keep up with the increased demand of online retail while the transport industry still battels with a lack of drivers.
Why is this?
2020 saw an 8.9% increase in online retail sales compared to 2019. Many companies have had to invest in their own delivery fleet to meet this rise in customer demand. Almost all those surveyed say they have seen a further increase in online sales since March 2020. This pared with the fact that the is estimated to be a shortfall of 90,000 UK drivers.
The research also found that one-in-five businesses have hired up to 10 new drivers to keep up with customer demand. 75% of those surveyed said that expanding their delivery fleet had made admin ‘more difficult to manage’.
Comment
UK country manager at Vimcar, Ronald Clancy said:
“It is promising to see that business is thriving for ecommerce retailers despite an extremely turbulent 18 months. There remain many wider economic challenges for small businesses to overcome and what this research shows is that many ecommerce SMEs are having to rapidly adapt their business models in order to remain agile and continue to meet customer demand.”
Over a third of businesses also said that they expect demand to increase further towards the end of the year in the lead up to Christmas.
How can we help?
We offer fuel card solutions suitable for UK businesses of all shapes and sizes. We’ve partnered with leading providers including Esso, Shell and Texaco to deliver high quality fuel at over 8000 locations nationwide. All our cards also come with an online portal that your fleet managers can access 24/7. The portal allows you to download all of your transactional data available at the click of a button.
The Esso Card™ National card gives great coverage in urban areas and is ideal for businesses that operate in these areas. To find out more click here – https://www.cambriancards.com/esso-national-card/
SME Delivery Driver Investment