Peak is expected to break +25% increases in the first Express surge of 2018; forecasts for Mother's Day will be based on Valentines which is expected to set new records in home delivery.

Did you get your date night dinner delivered ? Did you send a washing machine to your Valentines ? Did your pet get a loved one present ? As bricks and mortar shopping moves further into tablets and phones, the Express explosion continues to drive supply chain to home delivery, take a look below at the operator quotes .

Pancake dinner mix done and ready for Valentines, peak is forecast to load 25% onto Express deliveries. Even pets are in the pecking order for 2018. Add an ever-expanding portfolio, flowers & chocolate deliveries have evolved into white goods and beyond. Shopping growth on mobile devices steps the deadlines tighter than ever before.

 Traditionally the two flower networks had a near monopoly on final mile flowers until packaging revolutionised delivery, M&S lead the way, sortation hubs from Heathrow to the East Midlands smelt sweeter than ever before in what is the first key peak after Q4 December for Express. The door opened from personalised cards to specific labelled goods. The goods moved from adding chocolates to a flower delivery to the entire platform of retail in a package to your Valentine.

Graham Thomas, Fleet Services Manager Ocado, fresh from the LSA Heathrow Logistics summit -

A date night delivered. Sometimes, nothing says I love you like a date night without the fuss of going out. This Valentine’s, stay in and have a nice dinner, a glass is a Date night Delivered.

Sam Clarke Gnewt,

We are focused on zero emission Valentines but the goods coming through are extraordinarily different to three years ago

Daniel Allin Diamond Logistics.

This valentine’s, consumers are forecast to spend £1.1bn on gifts and cards for loved ones in the UK alone, 0.7% above 2017. This increase has come by way of a drive by retailers to find alternative sources of revenue throughout the year. I’ve even seen a growing trend toward Valentine’s gifts for pets, with Notonthehighstreet offering a dedicated webpage for quirky pet present ideas. As usual, Diamond Logistics have increased capacity for this early year peak both for same day courier and express overnight parcel services.

Adrian Smith, Swift,

Valentines peak, we are loving it. Valentines delivery locations focus our driver teams on a wide spread of geographic outside of conventional day to day locations, the team at Swift have become excellent at dealing with locations new to their regulars and Valentines has further expanded the street knowledge supporting regular work for our clients.

Richard England FIoC - The Courier Company Cambridge

We are mainly business to business deliveries, we are not strongly affected by Valentine’s Day rushes but it still places a challenge in road traffic increase on the key day.

Rob Scott, GLH,

Valentine’s day for our City of London office sees a diversity of gifts, Final mile into business address locations in the inner city is about parking, Parking for all City drops remains the greatest challenge.