The Holiday season is setting out to beat all previous e-commerce sales records. Since November 1st, over 1 billion USD were sold only every day. Cyber Monday 2017 was the biggest US online shopping day in history, reaching a whopping 6.59 billion USD in sales.
Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, the United States Postal Service (USPS) expects to deliver more than 850 million packages, a 10% increase over last year. In the same period, UPS expects to deliver over 750 million packages, a 5% increase, while FedEx estimates it will deliver between 380 and 400 million packages.
Regular services must be reinforced to brace for the holiday season. UPS plans to hire 95 000 seasonal employees and offers Saturday ground pickup and delivery in 4700 American cities. In December, USPS anticipates 6 million packages on Sundays, in some locations even on Christmas Day. Many FedEx retails locations will be opened on Christmas Day, allowing for pickup. DHL hired 6000 seasonal workers in the US alone. Amazon hired 120 000 seasonal workers.
DHL e-commerce CEO, Lee Spratt said: “E-commerce is fundamentally changing the way in which logistics companies operate. To help our retail customers in the U.S. meet the demands of online shoppers for greater transparency, convenience and speed, we have to balance increased capacity with improved efficiency and to offer flexible omni-channel solutions. DHL is expanding its services across all operating divisions, from fulfillment to the last-mile, in order to support this dynamic and fast-growing segment.”
The impact of e-commerce shopping and holiday shipping is not limited to the USA. Australia Post delivers an estimated 2 million parcels a day, with 95.6 percent of them arriving on time. Canada Post anticipates to be delivering 8 million parcels, twice as much as five years ago. In Germany, the DPD expects to be delivering 300 000 parcels per hour at peak times, and more than 6 million per day Europa-wide.
Worldwide, post services and delivery services recommend that customers follow the given deadlines to avoid a late delivery. Cross-border deliveries usually take longer to reach their destination.
Picture: UPS.
