• 51% of all peak shutling happened over a 10-day period (from 14th to 23rd December), with 24% occurring over a frantic 4-day window (from 19th to 22nd December). 2010 happened to be even later / more frantic for Shutl although we suspect that was an anomaly caused by the snow and shoppers not being able to receive their previously ordered shopping.

• Shoppers bought 2 hours later in the day versus pre-peak, with a seven-fold increase in insomniacs placing online orders between midnight and 3am.

• Our fastest delivery was an order placed at Oasis on 16th November 2011, delivered in 17mins : 24secs of checking out. This was 41% faster than last year’s quickest (29mins : 24secs), though still some way off Shutl’s 14mins : 59secs world record set in March 2011.  Average ‘Now’ delivery time was 85mins : 01secs.

What separates the sexes?

• Pre-peak, men accounted for only 36% of Shutl orders on average, however 38 / 40 days leading up to Christmas saw an increased proportion of men using the service. Saturday 17th December saw the first (and only) time male users outnumbered female!
• Men seemingly have higher expectations than women – or at least perhaps they don’t value their time as highly! Feedback left by female shoppers over the period consistently ranked the Shutl service 4% higher than their male counterparts, scoring it a whopping 96% combined across ‘value for money’, ‘ease of use’, ‘speed of delivery’ & the ‘delivery person’. The greatest variance (150%) was for ‘value for money’, although male perception improved considerably over the Christmas period.

Kindle beats iPad in battle, but Apple is winning the war

• Consumer electronics accounted for 55% of top 100 products shutl’d.
• The Kindle was the most popular item Shutl’d, representing 1.6% of all transactions and outselling iPads by almost 2:1.
• When including iPods, Apple narrowly pips Amazon to the post, accounting for 1.7% of all items shutl’d.

Xmas 2011: bigger, cheaper and mobiler

• 155% increase in the availability of Shutl (0.5m+ shoppers were offered Shutl this year). This is the combined result of more retailers offering the service and the successful completion of the first phase of our national expansion plan.
• 2,570% more shoppers chose Shutl versus 2010, driven by increased availability, greater awareness and promotional pricing.
• The average price paid for Shutl delivery over the holiday period was £5.64, with over 40% of customers receiving their delivery for free.
• 4,385% growth in the number of people using the Shutl service via a mobile device, with iPads proving to be the most popular (accounting for a whopping 77% of all mobile traffic).

5 Predictions for Xmas 2012

1. 5m+ shoppers will be offered Shutl during peak 2012: With increased coverage and new retailers coming on board, we expect 10x increase in availability of Shutl next year.
2. Majority of deliveries will be free: Having demonstrated this year that offering Shutl for free makes customers more likely to buy (not just choose Shutl) we expect Shutl to become a mainstream promotional tool.
3. Retailers will expand opening hours over Christmas period: Given that shoppers are shopping later, we expect several retailers serving key product categories to remain open much later in the day with some city stores even offering 24/7 delivery…
4. Shutl to me here!: It is clear to all that mobile shopping is not just a fad. We expect innovative retailers to make use of the inherent advantages of mobile and start allowing shoppers to order deliveries to non-home/work locations. i.e. hairdresser, restaurant etc.
5. Sub 10 minute delivery: With more retailers, greater coverage and improved implementations, we believe it is only a matter of time before the 10 minute barrier is broken…

Many of this year’s last minute shoppers will be giving a wide berth to online retailers having been let down by them and their delivery providers last year.

We thought therefore that now would be an opportune moment to spell out what shoppers can expect when they choose delivery by rocket and why we are just a little bit different from your average delivery provider.



1. While exact Christmas cut-off times will vary by retailer, this year you will be able to place orders for Shutl’s same day delivery right up until the afternoon of 24th December. In fact Shutl delivers 24 hours a day 365 days a year, we just need our retail partners to be open in order to be able to offer service.