Royal Mail is is set to trial a Sunday parcel delivery service for major retailers, the chief commercial officer has confirmed.

In the last year, Royal Mail said that it has processed an unprecedented volume of parcels as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The delivery firm delivered 496 million in the third quarter of last year, ending on 27 December.

The move to offer seven day a week deliveries comes as more consumers expect Sunday deliveries as part of the online shopping experience.

Rival delivery services, such as DPD and Hermes, currently already make Sunday deliveries for retailers such as Amazon.

‘Deliveries seven days a week’

Royal Mail said construction of its second, and largest, parcel hub is under way in Daventry, Northamptonshire, which will have the capacity to process more than one million parcels each day.

Chief commercial officer Nick Landon said: “The UK already trusts us to deliver their purchases six days a week both quickly and conveniently.

“Now for the first time, our posties will be doing the same thing seven days a week.

“The last year has reset so many customer expectations and the desire for even more convenient and even more frequent parcel deliveries has certainly been one of them.

“We always listen to our customers, both senders and recipients, and then ask here was clear: we love what you do Monday to Saturday, so please do the same on a Sunday.

“So that’s what we’re doing, as quickly as possible, so we can offer it to more and more customers across the course of this year.”

Previous trial of Sunday deliveries

Royal Mail has already trialled Sunday deliveries before, back in 2014 - but at the time, decided not to roll out the service.

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We were early adopters with the 2014 Sunday trial, which was limited to within the M25 area.

“Since that time, there has been a seismic change in consumers’ online behaviours.”

The spokesperson explained that shoppers are making online purchases more than ever, and so now the expectation of Sunday deliveries has grown.

“This trial is responding to those changing demands for even higher levels of convenience across the UK,” the spokesperson added.