As of today, we are three months away from Christmas, and if you have not already thought about holiday shopping, you may want to start. Due to COVID-19, the holiday buying season is likely to be an avalanche of e-commerce shopping and deliveries, promotions being run early by merchants, and crowd controls on Black Friday. Some stores, such as Walmart and Target, have already vowed to stay closed on Thanksgiving.
The biggest concern for the holiday season is undoubtedly online sales, where IBM is projecting sales at non-store retailers to continue to accelerate, growing by 35-percent from November to December. For comparison, from March to July the growth was 24-percent. Here are the highlights of how retailers and shipping companies are responding to the expectation in increased online shopping:
Major shipping companies, like FedEx and UPS, have begun to slap fees on package shipping for huge mailers like Amazon and Target, sometimes up to $3 or $4. FedEx also has limited several companies on the number of items they can ship from certain locations.
Some retailers plan to offer 15-percent discounts to customers who fulfill in the stores. This year will also see the highest use of alternative delivery options: BOPIS (buy online, pick up in-store), curbside pick-up, package lockers, etc.
Delivery companies are beginning to hire for the holiday season now. Amazon has announced they are bringing on 100,000 and adding to its new transportation capacity in anticipation of high holiday demand. FedEx plans to hire 70,000 workers this year, which is a 27-percent increase from last year. UPS has already hired 39,000 employees in Q2 because of having already experienced holiday levels of demand.
Lastly, retailers have begun to announce when their holiday sales will be starting, many, announcing November 8 to be the official date. Amazon, additionally, moved their annual Prime Day up to October, while hinting deals may begin weeks ahead of the day itself.
With COVID-19, the looming election, and the strain people are feeling on their finances, do you think retailers should lower their expectations for holiday shopping demand? Do you think that holiday shopping will help the economy recover? Will it only be a temporary recovery?
https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-shopping-season-57f2077a-7686-43a9-8908-6be6d2fabdcd.html
I am honestly not shocked by this at all. I think that there has been a drastic change in how we shop today compared to a decade ago. I think this will have a massive impact on how consumers shop for the holidays and beyond. I think it is likely that holiday shopping will help the economy recover, but I don't believe that holiday shopping will be as big as in years past. Another big thing will be lack of seasonal workers. Shipping companies might be hiring more, but there are many in-store retailers who won't be hiring their seasonal help.
ReplyDeleteI think that the online shopping industry will flourish this holiday season. Companies like Amazon, Walmart and Target with strong online presence should do well this holiday season. I think there will be a jump in GDP for the quarter, but it will not take us out of the economic troubles we are in.
ReplyDeleteI think that the online shopping industry will flourish this holiday season. Companies like Amazon, Walmart and Target with strong online presence should do well this holiday season. I think there will be a jump in GDP for the quarter, but it will not take us out of the economic troubles we are in.
ReplyDeleteI think with online shopping obviously growing during the holidays and especially with Covid, it is interesting to see that stores will be offering discounts for coming into the store when it has usually been the opposite. I feel like there will be so many delays with getting packages on time for the holidays. I guess the good thing coming from all of this is the employment of so many seasonal workers.
ReplyDeletei definitely think that this will change peoples shopping behavior because online shopping was trending before Covid and all Covid did was give people more reasons to online shop. Plus thanks to the lock down a lot of people where forced to online shop and a proportion will probably continue to shop online, not just for convince but now safety
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