Currys has stopped using the Royal Mail for its deliveries because of ongoing strike action.
Chief executive Alex Baldock insisted the electrical goods firm’s first responsibility was to the “UK households who want to get hold of their technology at this time of year”.
He told BBC1’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: “There is no great drama operationally for us, we plan for this sort of thing all the time.
“There are relatively few smaller parcels that we distribute through Royal Mail ... they are easily switchable to another provider.
“The bigger point here is that clearly on the one hand we see with our own colleagues and our own customers up close, the impact of the cost-of-living crisis at the root of these strikes.”
Mr Baldock confirmed Currys staff have been given a 16% pay rise, well above the rate of inflation, because “we need to retain and motivate a workforce” and that is “the price we are paying for the right talent”.
He added: “I would love to say it is because we are nice people, but it is also because we need to retain and motivate a workforce.
“In a business like ours it is very hard for the experience of the customer to be better than that of the colleague and that is why we put so much attention into retaining and motivating colleagues.
“What we need obviously is access to talent and it is the price we are paying for the right talent.”
The rate is far above the average 4% to 5% offer for NHS nurses, who are due to take strike action this month. Royal Mail staff have been offered a 7% increase over two years, and a lump sum worth 2% of pay this year.
But the Communication and Workers Union says the offer is well below inflation. The consumer prices index hit 11.1% last month.
Royal Mail workers are due to strike on December 9, 11, 14, 15, 23 and 24.
Royal Mail said: “We operate in a competitive market, and our customers have choices. Strikes will force customers to make those choices sooner rather than later.”
