Topic of the week – Peak Season 2023 and what to expect
Halloween is next week and you must be living under a rock if you haven’t already seen Christmas food, clothing and ads cropping up. Even before that, Cyber Week is less than a month away, meaning discounts and cyber sales. The peak season is officially upon us, so what can you expect from this year?
It was a rocky start to the year for retailers going into Q1 with a shaky economy, sales weren’t particularly high as they have been previously. It is expected to be highly competitive this year, as retailers battle for sales and consumer attention. It is important to make sure that you have sufficiently planned ahead and that your supply chain is prepared for the influx, although there are worries about lower sales, the peak season will always deliver more volume. Even though supply chains have seen vast improvements over the years through integrations, AI and automation, 60% of consumers worry about product availability, with 42% of consumers getting ahead of the rush and start their peak season shopping early. This goes hand in hand with the rising issue of Phantom Inventory. A Retail Insight report has shown that 32% of consumers have reported items that were listed as in-stock online are not available in store, with 25% of staff not being able to find items in store despite systems saying they were available. Product availability in the UK is a rising issue which can negatively impact customer retention and online sales. During the last 12 months, 60% of UK shoppers have reported out-of-stock items online, a 6% increase from last year. Not only could this effect the peak season but it could also mean that peak season shopping starts even earlier, as consumers try and get ahead of items becoming unavailable. Cyber Monday saw consumers spend a total of $11.3 billion USD last year according to Adobe, while on Black Friday US consumers spent $9.12 billion USD. This just goes to show how big these two days are alone.
Another eCommerce holiday, Super Saturday, has been predicted to be the biggest day for shopping in the UK. The last Saturday before Christmas Day, also known as Super Saturday falls on the 23rd December this year, and in 2022 was ranked as the 3rd busiest shopping day, as shoppers franticly buy those last minute gifts, we’ve all been there. According to VoucherCodes ‘Shopping for Christmas Report’, the predicted spend for Super Saturday 2023 should reach £1.63 billion GBP. While the majority £0.97 billion GBP is expected to be spent in-store that still leaves a huge £0.63 billion GBP to be spent by a predicted 6.2 million online shoppers. Super Saturday and the following Stampede Sunday fall a day earlier than last year meaning that consumers will now have an extra day to ensure delivery before Christmas. Therefore, last years online sales of £0.57 billion GBP should see an increase of 10.5%.
Even though the cost-of-living crisis still looms over, still expect to be filling your warehouses this peak season.
In other news
UPS has now announced that they are acquiring Happy Returns from PayPal, allowing box-free, label-free returns across the USA. UPS’ current 5,200 store locations will now be expanded to over 12,000 locations with this integration, where customers will be able to make easy parcel returns. This acquisition is expected to happen towards the end of 2023 subject to conditions and approvals.
eCommerce Market Stats
See some statistics relating to this week’s topics in the eCommerce market below.
Black Friday Stats
- Nearly 200 Million Americans Shopped Over the 5 Days of Black Friday in 2022.
- Over 130 Million People Visited US Online Stores Over Black Friday Weekend 2022.
- Half of UK adults (51%) plan to spend during the Black Friday weekend
- In 2023, it is predicted that Brits will spend a total of £3 billion while shopping the Black Friday sales.
Cyber Monday Stats
- The average American plans to spend $500 between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
- 196.7 million Americans shopped during Cyber Week last year.
- US buyer activity increases by 512% on Cyber Monday (compared to an average day).
- Since 2020, Cyber Monday has been the most active day in global e-commerce, with nearly four times as many sales as an average day of the year.
*All statistics sourced from Statista, Quivo, Finder, InfluenceMarketingHub, and ExplodingTopics
That’s all for this week…
If you would like to read more industry related news and insights, check out our articles below, or get in touch to discuss our services!