The live systems receive millions of calls each day and support hundreds of warehouses. We look at trends, particularly in the lead up to peak periods, so we can determine if the right amount of resources are available.

On average, 25% of all weekly despatches are made on a Monday (lots of on-line orders get processed on Mondays), closely followed by 21% (Tuesdays), then 18% (Wednesday), 17% (Thursdays), 17% (Fridays) and 2% (weekends).

Bank holidays also change this picture, but often with a more dramatic effect as there is an extra day at home for people to do on-line shopping as well as getting the normal bank holiday chores done. For the recent bank holiday Monday, for example, 1% were shipped on the Monday, with 34% on the Tuesday. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were also up on average, shipping 21%, 21% and 29% respectively, while the weekend remained the same.