Heading into the new year, transport & storage companies have fewer concerns than any other sector
7th January 2025
New data from the ONS reveals 41% of transport & storage sector companies - including couriers, home delivery and logistics firms – report they have no main concerns for their businesses heading into January 2025. All other sectors anticipate a higher number of potential problems, says the home delivery expert Parcelhero.
The latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) Business Insights report reveals that, compared to any other industry, fewer transport & storage sector businesses have any main concerns for January 2025.
The home delivery expert Parcelhero says a huge 41.1% of all transport & storage businesses (the ONS category which includes logistics, parcels, haulage and warehousing companies) report they have ‘no concerns for my business' for January 2025.
Parcelhero’s Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks M.I.L.T., says: ‘The transport & storage sector is the only one where over 40% of companies report no main concerns for the new year. The response is in stark contrast to their manufacturing and retail partners. Just 19.4% of manufacturing companies and 20.9% of retailers report no concerns entering January 2025.
‘The latest "Business insights and impact on the UK economy" report reveals only 11.6% of health & social services companies and 8.2% of other service companies have no main concerns entering the new year. These sectors are polar opposites of the transport & storage sector, which is clearly far more confident about its immediate future.
‘However, that’s not to say that all transport & storage businesses are wearing rose-tinted glasses. 10.3% of these companies responded that they are concerned about energy prices. Energy is of greater concern for the sector than it is for manufacturers (9.2%) or retailers (3.9%). The only other significant concern expressed by some transport & storage companies is the inflation of goods and services prices. 9.1% of the sector’s companies expressed concern surrounding inflation, though this is the same level as manufacturing and less than retailers’ concerns (10%).
‘There are several areas of potential concern that are impacting other sectors but the vast majority of transport & storage companies are clearly not sweating over them. Though the survey was held after the Government’s autumn budget - which announced a hefty hike in National Insurance employers’ contributions - only 2.1% of the sector’s companies are worried about taxation going into 2025, compared to 13.9% of manufacturers and 11.7% of retailers.
‘Likewise, only 6% of transport & storage firms are concerned about falling demand for their goods and services, compared to a very significant 25.5% of manufacturers and 22.3% of retailers.
‘Contrarily, transport & logistics companies are, in some ways, rather more pessimistic about their turnover prospects for January than their manufacturing and retail counterparts. Just 3.4% of the sector’s companies expect their turnover to increase this month and 28.8% of firms believe it might actually decrease. Compare that to 14.3% of manufacturers and 17.7% of retailers who think their turnover will rise.
‘However, a greater number of manufacturing and retail companies expect their turnover will actually decrease this January, at 30.3% and 29.4% respectively. Overall, a quarter (25%) of all trading businesses across all sectors report that they expect their turnover to decrease in January 2025, up 3% compared to December 2024. That’s not great news for UK plc as a whole.
‘One certainty is that it will be those transport & storage companies supporting retailers with strong in-store and online sales that will ultimately triumph. Parcelhero’s influential report “2030: Death of the High Street” has been discussed in Parliament. It reveals that retailers must develop an omnichannel approach, embracing both online and physical store sales. Read the full report at: https://www.parcelhero.com/content/downloads/pdfs/high-street/deathofthehighstreetreport.pdf
