Last week there was a lot of work, but this week there will be even more – delivery companies and internet shops are convinced of this. They may be one of the rare industries in Latvia for which the COVID-19 restrictions did not suppress action but gave additional vigor.
“Because indeed, people who might not have purchased goods on the Internet before, have been more active in doing so. And also those people who sit at home have more time to spend in e-shops. This, of course, also results in additional amounts for us,” said Jānis Grants, Chairman of the Board of delivery company DPD Latvia.
According to him, this year in November, compared to last year, the number of parcels increased by 40%. In turn, shipments delivered through automated package machines have increased by up to 140%.
This time is also busy in Omniva Latvia for employees who started preparing for the Christmas period in good time, but this year the volume of parcels sent through Omniva has increased by more than 70%.
“Unfortunately, the thing we couldn't foresee that Christmas would coincide with the COVID-19 pandemic. These two things together mean that we go very, very busy, and there are extremely many shipments. In fact, office staff who can do this, are also driving and helping to deliver packages because we have a catastrophic shortage of space to accommodate all the shipments,” said Beāte Krauze-Čebotare, the head of the company.
The amount of work of Latvian Post employees has also increased several times.
Līga Bubko, spokeswoman for the 220.lv Internet shop, also confirmed that preparations for Christmas have started earlier this year and are more intense than last year. The volume of buyers has doubled. The number of new buyers has also increased significantly. She said the starting point of buying Christmas gifts was already on 'Black Friday', when there was a record number of purchases, but it is also expected to be intense this week.
