Preparation: Holiday Shopping Logistical Nightmares
With entire countries under lockdown and small businesses forced to close their physical storefronts, customers have moved online to purchase consumer goods. The upswing in eCommerce shopping has led to retailers scrambling to adapt to meet the needs and expectations of their customers.
After months of endless disruption and unprecedented challenges, retailers must get this holiday season right. As Black Friday and Cyber Week draw closer, businesses and carriers are cautiously optimistic.
The surge in online demand and an influx in online purchase orders adds strain on a COVID-19 supply chain survivor, not to mention it’s shipping partners. The total customer experience could include delayed packages and frustration.
Major carrier players such as USPS and FedEx have already been delivering so many orders that they have been forced to set a limit and turn away incoming customers that exceed their delivery ceiling. According to a report from FedEx, an American multinational delivery service; they’re expected to deliver up to 7 million+ packages daily during the holiday season. Whatsmore, research provided by Salesforce suggests that the total packages expected to be shipped over the holidays exceed 700 million orders. This number is 5% more than the U.S. delivery ecosystem’s handling capabilities.
“Right now, UPS is at least a day late on everything,” said Guido Campello, co-CEO of intimates brand Journelle. “And it’s just going to get worse. It’s really hard, unless it’s just documents, to get anything shipped in a timely way right now. Space is going to run out and things will be late. We had a really important shipment for a big retailer that should have arrived four days ago, and it’s still not there. People will receive December orders in January. It’s going to be hell.”
Retailers are limited in their ability to over-deliver because of their dependency on carriers. During this holiday season, many consumer goods businesses are strategically diversifying their carrier network, as opposed to working with a single carrier per the norm.
One way retailers are combating the many logistical obstacles and preventing a potential mess is by introducing holiday sales earlier in the season than usual to build a runway for order delivery and avoid prolonged delays. This pivotal move has the potential to be beneficial to carriers as well so that they are able to spread out orders and so that retailers can avoid surcharges.
Carriers such as United Parcel Service Inc. and others have stated that they are prepared for the 2020 retail holiday season. To mitigate risk, many carriers have proactively invested in new infrastructure to sustain operations and efficiently manage logistics.
Some retailers are working overtime to help relieve some of the pressure on carriers by making deliveries and pickups easier by staying open longer, if not 24/7. The businesses that use all of their options at their full disposal to fulfill the customer experience and instant gratification culture are likely to be the ones who weather the storm and who customers will choose to stick with for the long haul.