Hardware and DIY Delivery Speeds Up, While Trade Projects Continue To Lag

• Same-day delivery availability has risen year-on-year, with nearly 1 in 3 (32%) Hardware and DIY retailers now offering the service.

• Retailers catering for DIY customers lead on speed, while those whose customer base is predominately tradespeople fall behind.

• Nearly half of same-day delivery options have distance, size and time of order provisos, limiting their value for time-critical projects.

New research from Gophr, the last-mile delivery business, reveals that same-day delivery adoption across UK hardware and DIY retailers has increased year-on-year, rising from 22% to 32%.

From Click to Fix: The State of UK Trade Delivery 2026, conducted by Gophr Trade, Gophr’s specialist delivery service for the construction and DIY industry, audited major trade retailers and independent suppliers across the UK, including Toolstation, Travis Perkins and B&Q.

While same-day availability across the sector has improved overall, speed and flexibility remain inconsistent. Nearly half (46%) of retailers offering same-day delivery impose conditions, such as cut-off times, location restrictions or limited product availability, and just 26% of businesses offering same-day delivery can fulfil orders within the hour - a critical window for projects operating on tight schedules.

The study also found a clear divide in delivery capability depending on whether a retailer serves more DIY customers or tradespeople. Only 27% of retailers serving mostly trade customers offer same-day delivery, compared to 50% of DIY-focused retailers, and 44% who serve a mixture of both.

With 49% of trade firms reporting delays and 23% having to cancel work entirely in 2025, the need for on-demand delivery in supporting projects is only escalating. But, findings from From Click to Fix: The State of UK Trade Delivery highlight a growing problem: Hardware and DIY retailers are serving DIYers and smaller projects faster than larger projects for tradespeople, where delays have the biggest knock-on effect.

The trend of trade customers being an afterthought persists among those who do offer same-day delivery. Among businesses that mainly service a trade client base, of those that offer same-day delivery, just 13% can deliver within the hour, with the remaining 87% only promising delivery within 24 hours and applying some form of condition. By comparison, 33% of DIY-focused retailers and 50% of businesses that service both DIY and trade offer within-the-hour delivery with no extra conditions, further underlining how trade customers continue to be deprioritised.

Despite this, all major trade retailers offer click-and-collect, meaning much of the infrastructure required to implement flexible same-day delivery is already in place. By utilising a ship-from-store model and integrating local, multi-drop courier networks, trade retailers could extend existing store-level fulfilment to better support time-critical projects.

Graham Smith, Strategic Account Director at Gophr, commented: “The growth in same-day delivery adoption shows the sector is moving in the right direction, but the pace of progress is uneven. 

“Businesses servicing DIYers are the ones setting the benchmark, while predominantly trade retailers, whose customers require tools and materials the fastest, are lagging.

“Same-day delivery only delivers real value when it’s fast and flexible. Conditional or delayed options, even if they’re delivered on the day, can still leave tradespeople stuck on site waiting for materials, which has a direct impact on productivity and profitability.

“As pressure builds on the industry to deliver projects faster and more efficiently, improving same-day delivery further, particularly for trade customers, will be essential. It’s easier than many think”

The full report is available here: https://uk.gophr.com/trade-diy-delivery-report-2026/

Source : Gophr 

Image : Gophr 

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