A day after Christmas, UPS affirmed and updated its expectation that it would process just shy of 2 million returns on Jan. 2, 2020, representing a seventh consecutive record-breaking National Returns Day. But is Dec. 26 really the day retailers and ecommerce companies need to pay attention to? You be the judge.
A seeming disconnect between fewer last-order promise dates and faster holiday delivery times is explained by the rising popularity of buy online, pickup in store, according to an annual survey from Kurt Salmon. This season, 53% of retailers didn’t offer a last order promise date to avoid disappointing customers.
Ecommerce holiday sales rose 18.8% over 2018, driving 3.4% overall growth in seasonal retail, delivering a very merry season for merchants, according to the Mastercard SpendingPulse holiday report. Ecommerce growth was up slightly from an 18.4% gain in 2018, accounting for 14.6% of total retail, according to Mastercard.
Target’s new last-minute delivery deals and deadlines for holiday gifts has it going head-to-head with Walmart over whose fulfillment is faster and more accommodating for shoppers. Both retail giants offer free two-day shipping, but Walmart has the edge in guaranteed delivery by Christmas for ultra-last-minute shoppers.
Amazon is telling 3P sellers they can’t use FedEx Ground for Prime deliveries this holiday season, citing performance issues, according to the Wall Street Journal, saying the policy will remain until there are improvements. UPS and other carriers stand to benefit in the short term if they can find room in their networks.
Amazon is enabling Prime customers in eligible areas to shop millions of products on Christmas Eve, and receive them in time for gift exchanges with free same-day delivery if ordered by 9:30 a.m. local time. Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market purchases on Christmas Eve in those eligible areas offer free two-hour delivery.
So-called Grinch bots buy up popular toys in bulk at Christmas and resell them at a profit. They affected as much as 97% of traffic to ecommerce sites in the week ending Cyber Monday, Radware claimed. Now Congress is considering legislation for the third time to combat the threat. Will a new law or technology solve the problem?
Even with a shorter season and earlier deals, Black Friday is still a mammoth shopping phenomenon, with a record $7.4 billion in ecommerce sales this year, according to data from Adobe Analytics. It was the second largest online sales day ever in the U.S., after Cyber Monday 2018, at $7.9 billion.
Twenty-nine percent of holiday shoppers in the U.S. aged 18-34 plan to spend the most in physical stores this season, a number that rises to 39% for all age groups, according to a new study from Capgemini. The survey showed 37% of younger consumers overall would spend on retailers giving them access to multiple brands.
U.S. shoppers wants lots of choices, great deals and delivery reliability over speed this holiday season, according to a survey of more than 3,000 consumers by ecommerce platform provider CommerceHub. 68% of respondents said they were either very likely or somewhat likely to shop on the major deal days, a 25% increase over 2018.