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Holiday Volumes A Good Read for Post Haste

Wednesday 3 April 2019, 6:33PM

By Beckie Wright

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Revenue-wise, the Christmas 2018 season was Post Haste’s biggest yet. While initially this was driven more by business freight – as retailers stocked and restocked – closer to Christmas there was a huge surge in residential deliveries, driven undoubtedly by online trading.

Another factor was the excitement retailers generated around Black Friday (29 November). Black Friday is the biggest shopping day in the American calendar, with big-box chains offering massive discounts that precipitate in-store stampedes in some places. The concept is a relatively recent import to this country, but clearly it’s here to stay. After all, it’s already one of our biggest shopping days of the year. So, thanks America, for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween, and now Black Friday. Will Thanksgiving (American-style) be the next? Turkeys should be worried.

Singles Day amps up, and there’s another big day import we are already in synch with, this one from China. By now you’ve probably heard of Singles Day (or Guanggun Jie), China’s mass celebration of Western-style online consumerism. It’s colloquially known as ’11.11’ as it falls on 11 November. The numeral ‘1’ signifies a person alone, hence the date chosen is no co-incidence. Promoted by and based on Alibaba platforms, Singles Day is a market for the masses – and how.

Surprisingly perhaps, New Zealand ranks high on the list of countries active on Singles Day, moving up from 14th in 2017 to 9th in 2018. Globally, the world’s biggest shopping event saw sales of NZ$45.7 billion on that day last year.

Corporates like Fonterra and Comvita and small online traders in this country are reaping considerable rewards from Singles Day.

Consistent with a trend Post Haste been noticing for the past several years, the volumes they are now carrying in January are similar to those of mid to late November. January was traditionally a quiet month for courier companies, but that’s history now.

For more information on NZ postal service,  NZ parcel post tracking and freight companies NZ please go to http://www.posthaste.co.nz .