E2E Dynamic 100 – Yodel reflects on its significant growth over the past five years

Independently-owned Yodel experienced a boom in the pandemic and has continued to scale its offering with the surge in online marketplaces like Vinted and eBay

Yodel has experienced significant growth in the last five years (Supplied)

As one of the UK’s largest independent parcel carriers, Yodel has grown significantly over the last five years to over 50 locations nationwide, delivering over 190 million parcels a year.

With the boom in online retail during the pandemic, Yodel experienced a rise in demand for delivery services, with significant growth in areas such as pet food and food/recipe subscription boxes. The business has heavily invested in technology at its three national sortation centres in Shaw, Wednesbury, and Hatfield to develop an industry-leading service in delivering specialist and delicate items.

To meet the continued growth in the market, Yodel recently opened a new 135,000 sq. ft depot in Coventry delivering over 50,000 parcels a day, with a 160,000 sq. ft site in Huyton, Merseyside set to open early next year.

Yodel has also succeeded in supporting the growing consumer-to-consumer (C2C) delivery market, as more people look to online marketplaces such as Vinted and eBay to make savings on second-hand clothing and gifts, and as a platform to support their small businesses and or to sell on unwanted items. C2C volumes for the business grew 162% in 2022.

Yodel was a crucial employer during the pandemic, it supported thousands of people who were placed on furlough and many of those who joined the business during the pandemic remain to this day. To support its operations and meet demand during the busy festive period, Yodel creates thousands of additional jobs across its warehouse and courier network every Autumn with opportunities for progression into long term roles.

Yodel currently employs over 10,000 people nationwide and is an armed forces-friendly employer, holding the Gold Award with the Armed Forces Covenant Employer Recognition Scheme, supporting and recruiting more than 100 ex-services personnel into a variety of roles in the last two years. As part of its commitment to employees’ safety and wellbeing, Yodel has worked with the Slave Free Alliance since 2019 to develop initiatives to support whistleblowing and training programmes to help end instances of modern slavery.

The business is at the forefront of the transformation in the parcel sector across the UK and via the carrier’s adhoc booking platform, Yodel Direct, it offers customers Store to Door and Store to Store deliveries via its store network across the UK, in partnership with PayPoint. The business has invested heavily in its pick-up and drop off operations and in 2022 appointed a dedicated Out of Home Director to oversee further innovation in the last mile of parcel deliveries and improvements for customer returns.

The growth in click and collect parcel deliveries has also resulted in a reduction in Yodel’s carbon footprint per parcel. This has been further supported by cycle courier partnerships in major cities across the UK which has seen last mile deliveries by pedal power increase by a third since March 2022. With Yodel’s sites moving to 100% renewable sources of energy, the business has reduced its carbon footprint by over a third in the last six years.

Yodel is part of the E2E Dynamic 100 Track. You can view the complete 100 track here