E-commerce boom encourages investment in vans

Tuesday, December 16, 2014 - 13:52 by Simon Crisp

With more and more people placing orders via safe shopping online, the UK is facing high demand for delivery services, which could put traditional infrastructures under excessive strain. The result of this, according to a new study, is that more and more vans are being snapped up as enterprising individuals decide to prepare to account for the delivery surplus.

Sales of commercial vehicles were up by almost a quarter this year, according to figures published by LDF. And the so called ‘white van man’ is seen as making a comeback, as more and more companies seek to employ people to deliver parcels, both locally and nationally, when other avenues are not available to them.

Controversy over delivery delays has already arisen this festive season, with some ill-prepared retailers having to outsource many of their delivery responsibilities to third parties, in an effort to clear the backlog.

The massive amount of investment in safe shopping online is leading to benefits in other industries, with the sales of vans being just one area that has been affected.

Report spokesperson, Peter Alderson, said that part of the problem for retailers is that the most intense e-commerce activities are now concentrated to a few specific days of the year, including Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

With promotions and offers coinciding with the sheer number of consumers looking to get their Christmas shopping done in good time, it is no coincidence that delivery services can become overburdened for a few weeks of the year.

How the rise in van sales will have an impact over the quieter months remains to be seen, but there are no signs of the rise in e-commerce activity stopping and so white van men nationwide could become a much more prevalent site once again.