Top 4 Global Retail Ecommerce Articles for the Week of December 5

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Article 1:?Holiday shopping sets record on paper, but inflation takes its toll

?Now that Cyber5 was one week ago, we have a better picture of how the key retail period unfolded. Cyber Monday was the clear winner. Whereas Black Friday grew 2.3% vs. 2021 to reach an all-time high of $9.6 billion, Cyber Monday grew an even more impressive 5.3% to reach a whopping $11.3 billion in revenue according to Adobe Analytics. The story of what happened in stores isn’t clear, while NRF stated a record 196.7 million people shopped over the long weekend, other firms like Placer.ai saw traffic decline 2.3% in shopping malls and 3.9% in outlet malls. Regardless, shoppers everywhere were willing to leverage tools like Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) to reach their shopping goals.

The robustness of the season caught the industry off guard, and the future is as difficult to predict as ever. I’d argue that online shopping is the clear winner of Cyber5. If brands are to succeed in Retail Ecommerce Management (REM), they need real-time data online to respond to changing patterns in demand. Levers like pricing, discounts, and ad spending should respond to new developments as they happen, not after the fact. Only then can brands know where to spend their next dollar effectively.

?Article 2:?Who are the eager beaver holiday shoppers unhindered by inflation? Gen Z

?This is a great article from CNN about the effect of Gen Z on retail this holiday season. As Gen Z matures, their influence on holiday events will be massive. This year, they were all about stores, malls, and brands. The older half of Gen Z are actively shopping but are still young enough that they are less likely to be burdened by financial responsibilities that could limit their discretionary spending. They are looking for social experiences and brands popularized by TikTok. And they are willing to pay more to get what they want. While online shopping is still ascendant, this news should not be too surprising. After two years of COVID, in-store shopping is a natural fit.

?For brands, splicing and tracking all of this shopper data by generation, level of spend, and purchase preferences is crucial. Gen Z might not shop like millennials did at their age and these distinctions are important to take into account when planning new products, ad spend, and promotional cycles across retailers, both online and in-store.

?Article 3:?Manufacturing orders from China down 40% in unrelenting demand collapse

?A news article about supply chain problems in China might seem like a throwback to 2021, but ongoing demand shocks have brought these issues to the forefront of retail ecommerce once again. Demand for orders from China has fallen by 40%. In response, China has cut trans-Pacific sailings, which will even out excess supply but also cause further delays in January for those orders that remain. Our own CommerceIQ data shows that Amazon is ordering less from its 1P vendors which in turn would affect demand farther up the manufacturing stream in places like China. At the same time, China’s zero COVID policy and worker protests continue to cause lockdowns, affecting manufacturing capacity and port operations.

?The global supply chain is especially vulnerable to cascade effects that can compound smaller failures into full-blown crises. China, however, has had more than its share of problems as of late. As these challenges mount, manufacturers like Apple may reduce their dependence on China and relocate production elsewhere. In today’s world, stability and reliability in the face of uncertain external factors are becoming just as important as efficiency.

?Article 4:?Eurozone retail sales fall by 1.8% in October

?As the US outperforms expectations, Europe is doing the opposite. Eurozone retail sales fell 1.8% in October, more than expected after growing 0.8% in September. France and Germany were particularly hard hit. Of course, the real story here is how retail sales are down or flat at a time when inflation hovers around 10%, steadily eating away at the size of the real economy. Europe does not have the sales growth to fend off this problem. Like the US, Europe’s inflation appears to be easing, but it has farther to go with more pain ahead than North America. Any global brand strategy should regularly assess the balance of investment across markets without adopting a one-size-fits-all approach.?