THG taps into growing late night shopping trend as it strengthens fulfilment services

UK consumers are increasingly shopping later, with a 7% increase in orders placed between 10pm and 1am compared to last year, according to new data from THG. 

It comes as more than 82% of all next day delivery orders are placed after 2pm and over a quarter (27%) are placed after 10pm, which THG said offers a "clear incentive for both customers and retailers to extend NDD order periods as late as possible".

The owner of Lookfantastic and Cult Beauty is capitalising on this trend, allowing customers to order from its brands until 1am, seven days a week, and still get their products the following day (or the same day for orders placed between midnight and 1am).

The ability to allow customers to shop into the small hours for NDD follows advances in THG's fulfilment capabilities, which allows it to serve the growing trend for late-night shopping.

The guaranteed next-day delivery (NDD) also applies to UK orders for THG Ingenuity and THG Fulfil’s external clients.

Tom Killeen, COO of THG Brands, said: "It is phenomenal to think that when you place an order until 1am any day of the week, it could arrive the following morning – or even the same morning if you order after midnight. It leans in to the 'I want it now' generation of consumers and allows us to drive high customer lifetime value for our brands. There’s a clear business goal here.

"We believe that fulfilment and courier services are an acquisition tool and should never be an afterthought given its importance to the end customer. As a result, we expect to see improvements in customer retention rates off the back of this service, in addition to improving loyalty and winning new customers."

Earlier this year, THG hailed a strong performance across its beauty division in the first quarter ending 31 March 2024, which saw revenues rise 9.3% year-on-year to £267.6 million.

It followed targeted changes to the firm's geographic strategy through 2023, with the group focusing on more profitable customers and territories closest to its global distribution hubs.

THG Ingenuity, the group's e-commerce solution that provides technology, global fulfilment and digital performance solutions for brands, also delivered growth in the first quarter.