Delivery statistics

Delivery-time figures use 849 UK shipments with a parcel-level delivery event. A further 11 are marked delivered without an individual delivery timestamp, so they are excluded from time averages. Order and shipment counts can differ when an order is split across parcels. Archived older histories are retained separately and are not used in these statistics.

Destination
United Kingdom
Data period: Aug 2025 → Oct 2026
Updated 3 Nov 2026, 00:00 UTC
849
parcels
7.7 days
median delivery time
8.4 days
average delivery time
22.9
tracking events per parcel

When one order travels as several parcels

Separate tracking timelines show how often orders split and how long parcels take to arrive.

Shipment detail
699orders with shipment detail100.0% of 699 orders
139orders split into parcels19.9% of orders with detail
2.16shipments per split order300 separate shipment timelines
1.3 daysmedian gap to final parcelAcross 135 fully delivered split orders

Orders by parcel count

699 orders with complete package lists
1 parcel 560 80.1%
2 parcels 119 17.0%
3 parcels 18 2.6%
4 or more 2 0.3%

Shipment counts describe orders with a complete package list in this dataset, not all UK AliExpress orders. The parcel-delivery gap uses only split orders where every parcel has a confirmed delivery time.

Delivery times

The overall split, with long deliveries expanded below

849 parcels
3.6-7.7 days39646.6%
7.7-11.7 days40447.6%
11.7-15.8 days323.8%
15.8+ days172.0%
Long-delivery detailTail ranges share an expanded count scale
17 parcels
15.8-19.8 days
3
19.8-23.9 days
3
23.9-27.9 days
2
27.9-31.9 days
0
31.9-36 days
0
36-40 days
0
40-44.1 days
9

Percentiles

Time taken by the fastest 25% through 95%

P25
6.6 days
P50
7.7 days
P75
9.1 days
P90
10.7 days
P95
11.8 days
97.3%of completed parcels arrived within 14 days

Last-mile carriers

Parcel count and average delivery time

ServiceParcels / shareAverage time
EVRI 437 8.1 days
InPost 253 8.6 days
Royal Mail 103 8.8 days
Other 30 9.9 days
Yodel 26 7.3 days

Average delivery time by month

Delivery month, with major holidays and retail peaks marked

Deliveries by weekday

Day of the final delivery scan

7
Sun
137
Mon
145
Tue
160
Wed
179
Thu
97
Fri
124
Sat

Weekly delivery-time drill-down

Choose a delivery month to see how its completed parcels were distributed across calendar weeks

Parcels79
Monthly average12.1 days
Monthly median7.7 days
Over 14 days19.0%
Delivery weekParcelsAverageMedianP90Over 14 days
2 Mar–8 Mar317.9 days5.7 days18.8 days12.9%
9 Mar–15 Mar4116.0 days8.8 days40.7 days24.4%
16 Mar–22 Mar66.9 days6.9 days6.9 days0.0%
23 Mar–29 Mar114.8 days14.8 days14.8 days100.0%

Weeks run Monday to Sunday. A week can cross a month boundary, but each view includes only parcels delivered in the selected month. Treat weeks with fewer than 10 parcels as directional.

Holiday and peak-season signals

2026 holiday cards compare parcels whose tracking interval crossed each holiday with a pre-holiday baseline.

Data through 12 Oct 2026
Slowest monthMarch 2026

12.1 days average from 79 parcels.

Fastest monthMay 2026

6.9 days average from 54 parcels.

What stands outSpring Festival spillover

March’s mean rose much more than its median, so a smaller group of very long deliveries drove most of the peak.

National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival

1–8 Oct 2025

1.4 days fasterno slowdown visible in Nov 2025
Parcels
93
Median change
−2.0 days
Over 14 days
2.2%

An eight-day public holiday in China. The following delivery month shows whether a backlog reached UK recipients.

Singles’ Day to Christmas

11 Nov–26 Dec 2025

+0.4 dayslittle change in Dec 2025
Parcels
66
Median change
+1.3 days
Over 14 days
0.0%

Singles’ Day, Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Christmas concentrate retail demand across international and UK delivery networks.

Spring Festival

15–23 Feb 2026

+4.8 dayshigher average in Mar 2026
Parcels
79
Median change
+0.8 days
Over 14 days
19.0%

Factory closures and the post-holiday backlog can carry into deliveries completed several weeks later.

Qingming Festival

4–6 Apr 2026

−0.2 dayslittle change in Apr 2026
Parcels
48
Median change
−0.0 days
Over 14 days
0.0%

A three-day public holiday in China. Its short duration makes a sustained effect less likely than Spring Festival.

Labour Day

1–5 May 2026

0.7 days fasterno slowdown visible in May 2026
Parcels
54
Median change
−0.2 days
Over 14 days
0.0%

A five-day public holiday in China with adjusted working days around the break.

Dragon Boat Festival

19–21 Jun 2026

+1.0 dayshigher average in Jul 2026
Parcels
27
Median change
+1.5 days
Over 14 days
7.4%

A three-day public holiday. July is shown as the possible spillover month.

Mid-Autumn Festival

25–27 Sep 2026

+1.0 days longer average than the pre-holiday baseline (7.7 days; 60 parcels)
Exposed parcels
66
Median change
+0.9 days
Over 14 days
1.5%

A three-day public holiday immediately before National Day. Orders moving through both breaks can face a longer pause and a larger backlog than either break alone.

National Day Golden Week

1–7 Oct 2026

+1.6 days longer average than the pre-holiday baseline (7.7 days; 60 parcels)
Exposed parcels
51
Median change
+0.9 days
Over 14 days
2.0%

China’s seven-day National Day break followed Mid-Autumn Festival by one week. October UK deliveries may include the combined pause and the backlog that followed it.

China’s official calendars confirm the factory and public-sector holiday windows shown here. DHL describes October to December as the global retail peak and reported roughly 20% more Express shipments than an average day between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday in 2025. Royal Mail also warns that international networks carry much higher Christmas volumes.

For the 2026 holiday cards, exposure uses China’s local holiday dates: a parcel must have its first tracking scan on or before the holiday ends and its delivery scan on or after the holiday starts. The baseline uses parcels first scanned from 1 Aug and delivered before 25 Sep 2026. Delivery time runs from first scan to confirmed delivery; data currently runs through 12 Oct 2026. These are observed associations, not proof the holiday caused the difference. Earlier holiday cards compare delivery months with nearby months.

Upcoming delivery watch

Possible disruption windows in the next six months, ordered by date. Nearby events are shown together.

History-led watchlist

Singles’ Day to Christmas

11 Nov–26 Dec 2026

No clear slowdown measured Dec 2025 average +0.4 days vs baseline; 66 parcels (baseline 83).

Retail demand peaks before Christmas.

Spring Festival (Lunar New Year)

6 Feb 2027

Historically 4.8 days slower Mar 2026 average +4.8 days vs baseline; 79 parcels (baseline 88).

Mainland China holiday dates are announced separately; this is the Lunar New Year date.

These are watch windows, not parcel-level forecasts. Historical differences are descriptive and may reflect other factors; each event currently has only one observed season. Lunar New Year’s date is shown as an anchor, while China’s official closure schedule is announced separately.

Chinese New Year and March deliveries

2026 Spring Festival holiday: 15 to 23 February

🧧

March deliveries averaged 12.1 days, which was 4.8 days longer than the January and April baseline.

March’s average rose 65.9%. Its median stayed at 7.7 days. 15 of 79 deliveries took more than 14 days and pulled the average up.

14 of 15long deliveries started in January or February.
Delivery monthParcelsAverageMedianOver 14 days
Jan 2026 40 7.4 days 6.7 days 0.0%
Feb 2026 🧧 CNY 63 9.2 days 8.9 days 1.6%
Mar 2026 Backlog peak 79 12.1 days 7.7 days 19.0%
Apr 2026 48 7.2 days 6.9 days 0.0%

China scheduled the 2026 Spring Festival break for 15 to 23 February. FedEx reports that factories can slow before the holiday and carriers may spend one to four weeks clearing backlogs after it.

Timing alone cannot establish cause. We group parcels by delivery month, so delayed February parcels can appear in March.

Common tracking updates

Status text repeated across parcels

01Package received by sorting center of origin.1,539×
02Your package is being prepared849×
03Your order's been created849×
04Package leaving origin country/region.841×
05Awaiting flight840×
06Import customs clearance started839×
07Delivered - Package delivered.831×
08Package arrived at regional carrier facility829×

Longest gaps between updates

Average gap before the next scan, with at least 3 examples

Tracking eventAverage waitSeen
The seller has shipped your package.2.7 days131×
Collected by destination carrier - Package arrived at regional carrier facility1.5 days4×
Your package has left from the sorting center1.2 days4×
Abnormal status - Package delivery delayed1.2 days18×
Package left transit country/region.1.2 days6×
Your package is being prepared1.2 days849×
Package arrived at regional carrier facility1.1 days818×

Method

Delivery time

We measure from the first stored event to the delivery scan and exclude incomplete parcels.

Percentiles

P50 is the median. P75 and P90 show the slower end of the distribution.

Carrier data

We read carrier names from each tracking record. The results cover this dataset.