Your summer shipping update
Public holidays reduce parcel volumes,
vacation pay triggers a rebound
Wuunder shipping data reveals how Dutch public holidays and the annual vacation pay bonus shape online ordering behavior.
Vacation pay effect
Orders dropped in weeks 20 and 21 as consumers held off spending until their vacation pay arrived. After Whitsun weekend, spending surged with a +15.3% peak on Thursday May 28. Liberation Day (not an official holiday) actually saw a +12.1% increase, likely because people were still at work and shopping online.
Logistics pressure
The average delay rate across April and May was 15.82%. Peaks were driven by the start of spring break (highway congestion), international days off causing cross-border delays, bad weather, and the Whitsun weekend halting carrier pickups. Mother's Day also created a midweek order spike.
Webinar on hidden transport costs | 2 July | 13:00
Combined research with the University of Groningen shows that when a quarter of consumers are willing to wait a few extra days for their parcel, the national delivery fleet can shrink by over 20%, reducing CO₂ emissions by 7.5% in the process. With the Wuunder checkout, 88% of customers are willing to wait.
See where your setup needs work
Want a quick read on where your costs and inefficiencies sit? Our short scan points you to the gaps in five questions, in under two minutes.
We’re nominated for a Computable award!
Wuunder is nominated for a Computable Award 2026 in the Sustainable tech category, with our GreenChoice checkout option: making sustainable delivery the default. Public voting is open and counts for half of the final result, alongside the expert jury. A quick vote helps us bring sustainable delivery further into the mainstream.
Jeroen in MKB Servicedesk on green that saves
time and money
Jeroen spoke to MKB Servicedesk about Wuunder's mission: making parcel delivery greener in a way that saves everyone time and money, and why technology is what makes that possible at scale.
Mother's Day vs Father's Day:
what peak gifting really looks like
Mother's Day vs. Father's Day Shipping
Every year, retailers gear up for two big gifting moments in the calendar: Mother's Day and Father's Day. But what does the data actually tell us about how consumers behave during these peak periods? We analyzed order volumes across our network during both weeks and found some surprising patterns.
Father's Day drives more shipments than Mother's Day
Counter to what many might expect, Father's Day (June 15–21) generated 12.45% more orders than the average week in Q2 2026. Mother's Day (May 4–10) saw a more modest uplift of just 2.19%. That's a 10% gap between the two holidays.
Our hypothesis? Moms are the ones doing the online ordering for Father's Day, while dads tend to grab a last-minute bouquet in-store. The data backs this up: Father's Day orders spike heavily on Monday (+26% vs. baseline), suggesting planners are getting ahead early. Mother's Day orders, by contrast, are spread evenly across the week.
Different holidays, different categories
The gifting profiles are strikingly different. Mother's Day sees massive spikes in Luxury Goods (+48%) and Living, Cooking & Lifestyle (+13%). Father's Day leans toward Fashion & Accessories (+16%) and Beauty & Personal Care (+16%). Gifts & Greeting Cards tops both lists, but Mother's Day dominates here with a 74% increase vs. 25% for Father's Day.
The delivery crunch is real, but manageable
For orders placed Monday through Thursday, over 90% arrive on time for both holidays. Friday orders for Mother's Day drop to 85% on-time delivery, partly due to disruptions caused by Liberation Day (May 5). Father's Day fared better across the board, with 90%+ on-time rates even for Friday orders.
What this means for e-commerce brands
The takeaway is clear: peak gifting weeks are predictable, category-specific, and front-loaded. Retailers who nudge customers to order early in the week, and who communicate delivery cut-off times clearly, will see fewer missed deliveries and happier recipients. Understanding these patterns isn't just interesting, it's a competitive advantage.
Product & platform updates
Product & API
- DHL Parcel DE: book multiple shipments in one batch instead of one by one.
- Orders API: enable or disable pickup per shipment, and retrieve the direct carrier tracking URL (e.g. a PostNL link) via the carrier_track_and_trace_url field.
- Smoother booking: a "Book with Order" button when viewing a shipment that is part of an order.
- New infrastructure for GLS Belgium, DHL Express and GLS Germany, for more robust and flexible error handling.
- Fixed: the age_check field for DPD NL is sent reliably again after a platform upgrade.
- A friendlier first-time experience in MyWuunder, with new empty-state illustrations across shipment pages.
Integrations
- Magento 2 Checkout Widget: new Checkout Selections feature for richer customer-data insight, plus improved deferred-queue handling for nominated-day orders.
Checkout
- Parcel Shop Locator additions: Fox Post and Correos Express have been added.