Holiday shopping season in October
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The consumer market remains strong, and supply chain stability has returned as the holiday shopping season begins. As mentioned on CNBC
Despite increased promotional items moving from warehouses to retailers, this doesn’t signal weaker consumer demand compared to last year.
“We’re seeing similar volume trends to previous years, especially last year.
Freight trends often indicate retailers' expectations of consumer demand. While more promotional items are hitting store shelves, the overall approach aligns with past years. Retailers are maintaining their promotional strategies while driving the sell-through of core offerings, with no significant changes in behavior.
The National Retail Federation projected a 2.5% to 3.5% growth in holiday spending this year, bringing total sales to as much as $989 billion for November and December—slightly above 2023 levels. Amazon also announced plans to hire 250,000 seasonal workers, matching last year’s numbers.
However, a notable shift this year is retailers’ approach to e-commerce delivery during key shopping events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. "In the past, the expectation was same-day or next-day shipping, but now there's a willingness to spread deliveries over a few days.
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This shift helps reduce warehouse labor demand and provides cost efficiencies, which is particularly important given inflation and margin pressures. Although delivery times may extend by a day or two, 3PLs Emphasized that clear communication with consumers about delivery expectations minimizes the perceived delay.
“Cyber Monday typically has a high volume, but by pushing some shipments to Tuesday or Wednesday, we can reduce warehouse costs while still meeting customers’ delivery expectations.
U.S. equity markets tapped the breaks on Tuesday, after notching a fresh record at the start of the trading week. The NASDAQ slid 1% followed by the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average, which lost about 0.75% a piece. Markets also faltered in Europe, as the CAC 40 dropped just over 1%, the FSTE 100 fell 0.5%, and the DAX lost 0.1%. In Asia, the Nikkei rose 0.77% to its highest since mid-July while the Hang Seng plummeted 3.7%