How retailers can get more from out-of-home pickup during peak season
For ecommerce retailers, peak season puts delivery networks under more pressure than any other time of year. Carriers prepare for huge volumes, with Evri increasing its network capacity to 4.4 million parcels a day in the 2025 peak season.
Higher volumes mean more pressure on home delivery, especially when a missed attempt leaves less time to get an order to the customer before Christmas. Out-of-home pickup offers shoppers another way to receive their order while giving retailers more room around those final delivery dates.
On this page
- What goes wrong with deliveries during peak season?
- Go live with pickup before the peak season starts
- Make the map easy to use on a phone
- Change what shoppers see first
- How home delivery and pickup compare during peak
TL;DR
- Retailers face the same delivery problems during peak season as they do throughout the year, but higher parcel volumes mean more can go wrong in just six weeks.
- Carriers are busier and delivery windows can become less reliable.
- Parcels left outside in December have a greater chance of going missing.
- Out-of-home pickup means the carrier can deliver several parcels to the same staffed shop or locker instead of relying on someone being home.
What goes wrong with ecommerce deliveries during peak season?
There are far more parcels moving through the network at the same time during peak season. By late November, carriers are handling higher delivery volumes and drivers have more stops to make. The delivery window given to the shopper can become less reliable as a result.
If nobody’s home, the parcel may go back to the depot or be left with a neighbour. The retailer often ends up paying for another delivery attempt, but the cost doesn’t stop there. Failed deliveries also generate more WISMO queries and customer service tickets, taking up time internally while teams track parcels and arrange redelivery while dealing with returns to the sender.
Moving more orders to out-of-home pickup can reduce some of the pressure. HubBox data shows that retailers offering pickup saw delivery-related complaints and WISMO tickets fall by around 18%.
Go live with pickup before the peak season starts
Out-of-home pickup gives carriers a delivery point where someone doesn’t need to be home, which removes one of the largest causes of failed delivery attempts during peak.
Carriers can also drop off several parcels at a staffed shop or locker in one stop, saving time as parcel volumes rise and residential delivery rounds come under more pressure.
Getting pickup live before peak gives shoppers time to familiarise themselves with the option before Christmas orders start to pile up. It also gives retailers a clearer picture of which locations people choose and where coverage may need improving.
You can have pickup live be live in as little as 24 hours with HubBox – starting in September or early October gives you time to see how shoppers use pickup before peak season volumes rise.
Getting the most out of pickup: make the map easy to use on a phone
Shoppers buying on their phones during peak season may be trying to fit their Christmas orders into a commute or a lunch break. It’s why choosing a pickup point needs to be easy on a small screen, with no fiddly map controls slowing them down. HubBox takes a mobile-first approach so your shoppers can find a convenient location and carry on with their purchase.
Indeed, HubBox user research found that 72% of shoppers look around the map first to understand where they are before choosing a pickup location.
Let shoppers filter the map
Filters help shoppers find a pickup point that fits their routine. A location along their commute or with parking nearby may be more convenient than the closest option. Depending on the carrier network, shoppers can narrow their search by distance or service type, as well as opening hours and available amenities.
How the locations appear makes a difference
Too many pins can make it harder to use the map. When the map becomes crowded, 57% of users switch over to the list view. HubBox’s research suggests they made the switch because finding a suitable location on the map proved too difficult, rather than because they wanted a list in the first place.
When HubBox tested generic map pins, only 12.5% of users immediately understood what they represented. Replacing them with branded pins showing the pickup location’s logo – such as Co-op, Post Office or Londis – increased immediate comprehension to 80%.
A familiar logo helps shoppers recognise the pickup location without tapping every pin and reduces hesitation so they can choose where to collect and move on to complete their order.
The importance of distance
Distance information also received plenty of attention in the research, with a 95% engagement rate. Of the people tested, 60% preferred having exact mileage or walking time shown directly on the pin instead of tapping it to find out how far away the location was.
Source: HubBox user research, 2025. Based on moderated usability testing of map pin design.
Change what shoppers see first to improve behaviour
Home delivery is simply what most shoppers have always chosen. Our research found that 44.4% of respondents preferred to keep their existing delivery habits even when a better alternative was available. The figure barely changed between generations. But the research also found that people could be encouraged to make different choices without needing much convincing.
Among respondents with high habit inertia, 63% responded positively when a store they trusted automatically selected pickup for them.
There are a few ways retailers could use the finding at checkout. If someone has previously collected an order, for example, you could pre-select a nearby pickup point the next time they buy. Pickup could also appear above home delivery during the final delivery week when collection gives the shopper a later order date.
Changing what shoppers see first is likely to have more effect than adding another sentence telling them pickup is convenient.
How home delivery and pickup compare during peak
Home delivery and pickup behave differently once parcel volumes start to rise. The table below shows where pickup can give retailers more flexibility during peak.
| Dimension | Standard home delivery | Out-of-home pickup |
| First-attempt success | Depends on someone being in | Near 100%, with a staffed shop or locker always there to receive it |
| Order cut-off | Earlier, tied to residential rounds | Typically later, useful in the final weeks |
| Parcel security | Left on a doorstep if nobody answers | Held securely until collected |
| Cost per parcel | Higher per-drop cost at peak rates | Lower, with HubBox reporting logistics savings of 2-4× licence fees |
Make peak season easier to manage
Peak season will always put ecommerce delivery under pressure, but offering a pickup location gives retailers another way to keep orders moving when home delivery is under strain.
HubBox adds pickup to an existing checkout through a single integration, with access to locations from carriers including UPS, DPD, Royal Mail and Evri. We’re designed to fit into a retailer’s existing checkout and shipping setup, so adding pickup without a complicated integration process is straightforward.
Going live before the peak season also gives you time to see how often shoppers select pickup before Christmas volumes start to climb.
Get pickup live before your busiest weeks
See how HubBox adds out-of-home pickup to your existing checkout through a single integration in as little as 24 hours.
Frequently asked questions
What is out-of-home delivery?
Out-of-home delivery is any delivery where the parcel goes to a shop, locker or other collection point instead of a home or work address. The shopper chooses where they want to collect their order at checkout and picks it up when it suits them.
When should a retailer add pickup points before peak season?
September or early October gives you enough time to see how shoppers use pickup before the peak season begins. HubBox can have pickup live at your checkout in as little as 24 hours. Starting in September or early October gives you time to see how shoppers use the option before peak season begins.
How much of a retailer’s volume typically goes to pickup?
Retailers using our checkout integration can see up to 30% of orders go to pickup.
Does offering pickup slow delivery down?
No, parcels still travel through the same carrier networks. OOH orders are usually shipped in much the same way as a home delivery, so depending on the carrier, there may be little or no change needed to your downstream systems.
Pickup locations often accept deliveries later than residential rounds. As a result, retailers can sometimes offer a later final order date for pickup than they can for home delivery.
Sources
- HubBox user research, map interaction study (2025) – map browsing behaviour, pin comprehension, distance visibility, list view switching
- HubBox, The American Pickup Gap (2026, n=486, United States) – habit inertia and response to automatic pickup selection
- HubBox platform data – go-live time, logistics savings relative to licence fees, pickup share, size and weight limits
- Financial Times, “Royal Mail reduces second-class post service in £500mn overhaul” (21 April 2026) – second-class delivery changes and rollout scale
