Prime Day Kicks off the Holidays – What Should Retailers Prepare for?

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!….. Unless you’re a brand on Amazon and have to prepare for this year’s holiday schedule of Prime Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the overall shopping season coming at you in back-to-back months. With the opportunities for business growth during this time, there are also drawbacks. As you may be aware, Amazon’s Prime Day was pushed back this year, due to Covid, making the mid-October dates something of an appetizer for consumers gearing up for the upcoming holiday season.

Black Friday is traditionally when retailers get ‘in the black” for the calendar year and it’s used as a way to jumpstart their holiday sales. However, this Black Friday will look a little different than in years past. It will be less of an early Friday morning track meet to find the best in-store deals and more of an online-focused approach by the majority of consumers. Covid has led to many changes but one positive change is that it has brought the world of eCommerce to an audience that might otherwise prefer in-store shopping. With Prime Day sales surpassing $3.5 billion this year, we can only expect an increase in online volume throughout this season and beyond.

So what can retailers expect to see this holiday season? Aside from an overall increase in online sales, we can expect purchases to be made earlier in the season as shoppers fear pandemic-related extended shipping times will delay their gifts. That said, we expect to see longer grace periods for product returns. We also anticipate inventory shortages as import/export issues are still prevalent due to Covid. We recommend using your strategic 3P partners to secure product availability so even if you do run out of stock, you’re capturing authorized sales.

This holiday season is expected to be the most pivotal in recent retail history and might determine the futures of some of your favorite stores. According to US shoppers, 23% say they will shift their spending to buy online pick up curbside or pick up in-store versus last year. 

With the rapid acceleration of digital commerce over the last 8 months of Covid-induced shopping, this holiday season could be the final purchasing occasion needed to truly lock in this new online behavior for those demographics who were still on the fence. We’re anticipating consumers trading visiting actual shops for digital shopping carts.

Please reach out if you have any questions about these industry changes. Our team is here to support you through the upcoming holiday season!

POTOO Solutions

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