Despite the vagaries of the economy, fulfilment companies have been gearing up for a busy Christmas peak.

iForce, which claims to be the UK’s leading provider of specialist logistics services such as e-fulfilment and returns logistics, was expecting to take on between 1,800 to 2,000 agency workers this year, and Spark Response has already created 150 temporary jobs to meet the demand of the Christmas rush.

For nine months of the year iForce says it operates with 550 full-time employed staff (referred to as "colleagues"), plus a core team of around 200 agency workers.

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ASOS was the big winner in this year’s e-Commerce Awards for Excellence, which are sponsored by IMRG and presented in association with the eCommerce Expo. ASOS won the award for international e-retail, and also those for best large online retailer and best use of social media. This performance also won it the Online Gold Award, or OLGA.

On the fulfilment front, Collect+ won the award for innovation in delivery. IMRG managing director David Smith commented: "CollectPlus has been one of the true innovators in making the receipt of online orders more convenient for consumers. Their model has proved influential, as we are now seeing several multi-channel retailers looking to incorporate alternative collection points into their own delivery service."

John Lewis won the award for best multi-channel retailer, and Party Delights Ltd was voted the best small online retailer. The best m-commerce retailer was Jessops.

This year saw the launch of a new individual award for outstanding contribution to e-commerce, which went to Brian McBride, former managing director of Amazon UK. He was praised for setting benchmarks for all online retailers and overseeing multiple innovations during his tenure.

Amazon has fascinated the fulfilment world by launching UK trials of box-bank consumer deliveries, using a lockable box banks similar to those manufactured ByBox (though they were not in fact supplied by this company, it has insisted).

First news of the development emerged earlier in the year, when Amazon introduced a box bank in Seattle, working with retail chain 7-Eleven, which hosted it. Several more box banks have since been added there, and at least half a dozen box bank locations have also been set up in New York.

Now the company has set up a box bank in the shopping centre at One New Change in the City of London, and more are reportedly planned. We understand the company started off by working in partnership with the landlord of the initial site, Land Securities.

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Carrier and home delivery specialist Yodel is poised to embark on the final stage of the integration of its two constituent parts (known formerly as Home Delivery Network and DHL Domestic).

Between January and March of 2012 it is proposing a reduction of its depot network from just over 100 sites to around 57, closing a total of 45. It is currently in consultation with the staff affected.

Chief executive Jonathan Smith told F&E this step marks a vital stage in the creation of a fully-integrated Yodel business. "It will bring us back to profitability when our financial year ends in July," he said, "and pave the way for future growth."

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Online fashion retailer ASOS has launched what it calls a "twilight" ordering option, under which consumers can place orders right up to midnight for delivery the following evening. But the company has dropped the same-day delivery service that it was offering previously.

It has continued using courier CitySprint to do these fast-turnround deliveries. In essence, it appears to have adapted the delivery model that it originally evolved for same-day deliveries.

The late ordering option applies between 7pm and midnight, and orders placed within this time window are delivered between 6pm and 9pm the next day.

Initially the twilight service is available in London, Leeds and Manchester, but it is being extended progressively to other areas. Liverpool and Nottingham will be the next to be added.

The company’s web site says it will make only one delivery attempt, then recover the goods and refund the price (except for the delivery charge).

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The VAT concession on low-value goods sold to the UK from the Channel Islands is to be withdrawn on 1 April next year.

This development, widely rumoured for some weeks, was announced by the Government as F&E closed for press.

The change applies to the LVCR (Low Value Consignment Relief) system, which has favoured consumers but reportedly undermined small retailers on the mainland, and has been a bone of contention for years. The ceiling was dropped from £18 to £15 on1 November, but it was widely predicted that this would be a prelude to the complete withdrawal of the system.

There has already been something of a flight from the islands of retailers that had flourished under the old regime, and there are fears that up to 1,500 jobs there could be lost in the long run.

However, the UK Government claims it will gain up to £140 million in lost VAT income from this change, and Richard Allen, ardent campaigner against the scheme and head of Retailers Against VAT Avoidance Schemes, has said: "The removal of this major market distortion should be welcomed by all UK businesses that wish to trade online."

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