One in four retailers is worried about the same supply chain issue as the holidays approach.
According to the “2021 State of Shipping Report” from multi-carrier e-commerce shipping software provider Shippo, shipping” was mentioned in 23% of responses from surveyed retailers to the question, “What keeps you up at night when it comes to readying your business for the 2021 holiday season?”
While the results do show that most retailers remain optimistic, more respondents expressed concern about holiday shipping than in 2020. When asked how confident they are that the carriers they use for shipping will keep up with demand amid the holiday season, 41% of respondents were somewhat confident (compared to 47% in 2020) and 23% were somewhat not confident (compared to 18% in 2020). Eighteen percent were very confident compared to 22% in 2020, and 8% were significantly not confident compared to 4% in 2020. Ten percent had no opinion, similar to 8% in 2020.
When asked how has the evolving COVID-19 pandemic impacted their shipping operations, 52% of surveyed retailers said there are more package delays (about the same as 2020), 38% said their supply chain is disrupted (up from 26% in 2020), 36% said more sales (about the same as 2020), 17% said none of the above, 16% said less sales, 8% said more customer complaints, 4% said fulfilling orders has become harder due to safety concerns, and 3% said the number of returns has increased.
A recent study by First Insight and the Baker Retailing Center at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania indicates that virtually all retailers are facing supply chain issues in the current holiday season, with most expecting problems to last into the new year.
at Chain Store Age
