Peak Season delivery risks: which UK retailers face the highest stakes?

Peak Season from October to December generates over a quarter of annual revenue for 44% UK SME owners ¹ . During this make-or-break period, a single addressing error costs far more than one lost parcel.

When a Christmas hamper goes missing or Black Friday sofa gets delivered to the wrong address, you’re looking at customer service hours, redelivery expenses, refunds, and customers who’ll never return. Some retail sectors in particular are more exposed to these problems.

Here’s how to identify if your business is likely to be impacted, as well as what leading retailers are doing about it.

Peak Season risk assessment for bad addresses

Moderate risk: Fashion & lifestyle

Clothing brands, accessories, home décor

Fashion retailers face volume-based challenges during Peak Season. While individual item failures are less costly, the sheer number of orders multiplies the problem. Failed deliveries mean missed party dates, gift-giving disasters, and a surge in customer service queries when teams are already stretched.

According to an Ipsos-Octopia study , 85% of online shoppers say that a poor delivery experience would prevent them from ordering from that online retailer again. This research shows how even moderate-value delivery failures permanently damage customer relationships.

The multiplier effect:

Overwhelming number of customer support tickets to answer
Disappointed customers

Significant Risk: Bulky goods

White goods, furniture, electronics retailers

When your £1,500 sofa or £800 washing machine goes to the wrong address, the financial impact is immediate. The operational nightmare is worse when you consider rescheduling delivery teams, managing warehouse space for returned items, and dealing with frustrated customers who’ve taken time off work.

Davinder Singh, Courier at BJS Home Delivery, explained “ Sometimes the house number is missing, or the postcode won’t match that road where you’re supposed to be going. The majority of the time when it’s a new build, you will end up in a field in the middle of nowhere. You’re allocated a certain amount of time to do that delivery, so the searching does get quite frustrating.”

The operational burden:

High item replacement value
Redelivery coordination complexity
Warehouse space management

High Risk: Gifting & experience companies

Alcohol retailers, flower shops, experience voucher companies

Missing delivery deadlines for gifts creates a cascade of problems. Recipients are disappointed, gift-givers are embarrassed, and special occasions are diminished. Since gifts are often needed by a specific calendar deadline, the “Where is my order?” – a.k.a. WISMO – enquiries come with extra pressure to find a solution, fast.

The particular price:

Emergency replacement sourcing
Social media amplification
Lost repeat business

Extreme risk: Perishable goods retailers

Butchers, bakers, farm shops, speciality food producers

Time-sensitive products spoil if delivery fails. Peak Season amplifies this with Christmas dinner ingredients, party catering, and gift hampers containing fresh produce.

When your premium organic turkey or artisanal Christmas pudding fails to arrive, there’s no second chance. The product perishes, the customer’s Christmas dinner is ruined, and the reputational damage spreads through family networks and social media.

The costs that stack up:

Expedited redelivery fees
Customer service overtime during peak periods
100% product loss (spoilage)

How bad are the problems with addressing in the UK?

what3words’ Consumer delivery research (2022) ² reveals the scale of this problem:

70 % of the UK population have experienced deliveries going to wrong addresses or lost
Nearly 40% worry about ordering expensive items due to delivery accuracy concerns
Over a third (34%) of people in the UK would be open to using an alternative addressing system if it meant their delivery went to the right place every time

Citizens Advice found that 36% of UK shoppers (approximately 14.8 million people) reported delivery problems as Peak Season approached in November 2024. ³ Among those experiencing issues, Which? research reveals the most common problems: late deliveries (39%), parcels handed to someone else (38%), and wrong address delivery (25%). ⁴

How to peak-proof your deliveries:

If your business falls into one of the categories above, the solution is to collect better address information at the point of sale to close two critical gaps: invalid address input and inaccurate delivery location data .

1) Collect valid addresses at checkout via Swiftcomplete . The added benefit of Swiftcomplete is that it removes friction by allowing customers to enter their address up to 90% faster and minimising the risk of typos. Ultimately, it ensures the address you provide your couriers is deliverable.

2) Collect precise addresses at checkout with what3words . This complements Swiftcomplete by adding precision where street addresses and postcodes fall short, particularly for new builds, rural locations, multi-entrance sites, and large estates. By capturing a three-word address at checkout, retailers enable drivers to navigate directly to the front door, loading bay, or pick-up point meaning the driver avoids guesswork and wasted trips.

Together, Swiftcomplete and what3words tackle both the “is this a real address?” problem and the “is this the right exact spot?” problem. The result: less WISMO, fewer re-bookings, happier customers, and more efficient fleets.

Businesses that are already benefiting:

Joe Apperley, Head of Marketing at BJS explained “The beauty of what3words is definitely in its simplicity. Being able to input 3 words and produce such accurate location data is extremely useful to our back-office staff who plan our delivery team’s days.”

Fodabox, a premium food giftbox company, recently integrated Swiftcomplete into their checkout process to avoid Peak Season delivery challenges.

Smallacombe Farm, a family business selling organic produce from their farm in Dorset, can now locate even the most remote properties with precision, ensuring fresh, time-sensitive orders reach customers exactly when expected.

If you’re in the danger zone, what can you do?

Integration is straightforward. Retailers can add what3words to checkout in under 30 minutes to get immediate protection against addressing errors. There’s no complex development work, or lengthy implementation periods, and you can choose the integration that suits your tech stack.

We recommend you act before Peak Season begins. Implement robust address validation before peak season starts, to avoid the stress of addressing errors during your most critical trading period.

Helpful resources to take the next steps:

Calculate exactly how much addressing errors could cost your business. Use our ROI calculator to get a personalised estimate based on your order volumes and average order values.

Watch our webinar on demand to hear exactly how to integrate what3words and Swiftcomplete into your checkout process before the Peak Season rush begins.

Get started with Swiftcomplete Get started with what3words

¹ https://www.iwoca.co.uk/news/smes-depend-on-christmas

² what3words’ Consumer delivery research (2022) – Survey results based on research conducted by OnePoll to 2,000 adults in the UK aged 18+

³ Citizens Advice’s annual parcels league table (2024) – Survey results based on research conducted by Opinium Research to 8,011 UK adults who have received a parcel in the last month from: Royal Mail, DPD, Yodel, Amazon Logistics or Evri. Read more.