New figures from Ironmongery Direct show that it has a 98.5% delivery success rate for being on time, beating the national average.
The UK's biggest online and mail order supplier of ironmongery products to the trade says the average on-time delivery performance for the UK currently stands at 92%.

The company estimates that failed deliveries cost tradespeople millions of pounds each year in lost time, with work having to be cancelled or delayed when packages fail to arrive as promised.

Ironmongery Direct carried out a series of focus groups in January to discover what shoppers want from an online supplier. The research found that the biggest online annoyance for tradesmen is failed deliveries as it can hold up jobs from being completed on time.

Tradesmen also want the option of timed delivery slots so they have a better idea of when the goods will arrive ahead of a job.

Wayne Lysaght-Mason, managing director at IronmongeryDirect, said: "Late deliveries cost the economy an estimated at £851m a year, £13.6m of which we believe relates to time and money lost by tradespeople in the UK, which is why we're proud to maintain a high quality delivery service."