What does this mean for eCommerce? That it is still strong, in spite of all of its flaws, Covid shutdowns, and oceans to travel this past holiday season!

The Stats

According to experts, consumer spending increased from November 1 to 24th by 19.2%, decreased 1.4% during Cyber Week (Thanksgiving to Monday, and then increased by 5.6% After Cyber Monday. It seems the “extended holiday season” helped kick off the shopping season quite strong and consumer spending still was able to grow in the typical cyber week and holiday weeks for shopping.

Another major milestone hit his year was a significant uptick to days with more than $3B spent. Last year, there were 25 days with more than $3B spent daily, and this year there were even more with 38 days.

Challenges for consumers

Consumers faced challenge after challenge this holiday season and were warned early on to allow plenty of time for products to arrive. As the season progressed, many items were out of stock and consumers would have to wait weeks for products to be restocked (if ever).

Another challenge was the drastically lower level of discounts offered this holiday season. Typically, electronics are discounted roughly 20%, but this year had less than 8% level of discount. This occurred across many different products and, yet according to the numbers, consumers still chose to purchase.

Inflation also impacted the price of most goods and living expenses. As consumers try to stretch the dollar further, many still chose to pay the inflated prices of merchandise this holiday season.

According to experts, the biggest take away from this past holiday season is that “demand for online shopping was not deterred by persistent supply chain challenges, as retailers contend with congested ports, carto delays and disruptions overseas manufacturing.”

In spite of all of the restrictions like access to products, inflation and reduced discounts, consumers were able to ultimately spend and provide the holiday season of their choosing after two long pandemic years of being apart from loved ones.

Simplify with OPAL’s 4-in-1 Software Solution
EDI | Order Management | Warehouse Management | Shipping

OPAL is the innovative solution to simplify your small to mid-sized to enterprise business fulfillment needs in today’s rapidly transforming retail world.

As your eCommerce business looks to grow and remain flexible for this year’s new trends and upcoming holiday seasons, OPAL is here to partner with you in your growth. 

To learn more about how your eCommerce business can thrive with OPAL, click here!

Click here to book your customized demo today.  We are here to support you through this time of change and are here to help you innovate and thrive!

Simplifying Through Automation
In today’s chaotic environment, customer expectations have grown more complex and lead to fragmented supply chains with short cycles.

Success used to mean operating at peak efficiency, but now efficiency alone is no longer sufficient. It is now critical for eCommerce business to remain flexible enough to keep up with global trends and supply challenges that often change quickly.

This past year alone, we’ve seen issue after issue with the global supply chain. Everything from shortages, to inventory sitting on ships waiting to dock for weeks, to lack of delivery trucks ready to take materials to retailers or customers.

With so much out of your control, why not focus on what you can?

Automation

Remaining flexible is made easier by automating through a software package for your eCommerce business. A shift from manual steps to autonomous processes not only increases your capacity for additional and more accurate orders, but may do so without hiring additional employees. And with more than 11 million job openings in the US right now, efficiency with the team you have is critical.

Real-Time Inventory

Accurately representing inventory across multiple sales channels and retailers to prevent overselling and underselling of products is critical. Automation not only simplifies the customer’s ordering process, but it improves accuracy up to 99%.

Additionally, as new trends become available, knowing your accurate inventory levels at every moment will allow your team to make proper buying choices for what to keep on hand and what to not purchase again to make room for new consumer trends.

Efficiency and Cost Savings

Automation improves order accuracy up to 99% and reduces processing costs to just cents per order – in addition to not charging EDI for every single transfer of information. It also allows for unlimited order capacity without having to hire additional employees, while reducing processing cost to just cents per order.

Maximizing warehouse efficiency will ultimately increase the number of shipments per day by 25-50% and allow your business to ship to customers faster since it only takes 8 seconds to generate the backend – then pick, pack and ship!

Simplify with OPAL’s 4-in-1 Software Solution
EDI | Order Management | Warehouse Management | Shipping

OPAL is the innovative solution to simplify your small to mid-sized to enterprise business fulfillment needs in today’s rapidly transforming retail world.

As your eCommerce business looks to automate your process to remain flexible for this year’s new trends, OPAL is here to partner with you in your growth.

To learn more about how your eCommerce business can thrive in the holiday season ahead with OPAL, click here!

Click here to book your customized demo today.  We are here to support you through this time of change and are here to help you innovate and thrive!