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The chaos in the supply chain didn’t deter Christmas shoppers during Cyber Week, but it changed shopping patterns and some long-lasting Christmas shopping traditions.
Black Thursday is gone …
In the last few years, as Black Friday increased, deep discounts and increased customer demand meant that stores opened earlier and earlier, until they finally opened technically on Thanksgiving eve, “Black Thursday”. However, due to the pandemic and the rise in COVID variants, shopping on Thanksgiving Day dropped dramatically. Many big brands like Kohl’s, Walmart and Home Depot have decided to close their stores on Thanksgiving Day after a #optoutside movement was pioneered by REI. And although brick and mortar stores had 66 million customers on Black Friday, store sales fell to a 15-year low. Meanwhile, online shopping continued to pick up, with some retailers increasing their online sales on Black Friday by 22% year over year.
Cyber Monday grew …
Cyber Monday grew out of the trend for employees to return to the office after a Thanksgiving break and shop online at faster internet speeds than on their home networks. Now that fast internet is everywhere and millions are still working from home, Cyber Monday has evolved into Cyber Week and is quickly becoming an even longer Cyber November. This year, ongoing fear of missing out on discounted products due to anticipated inventory shortages prompted consumers to start Christmas shopping earlier than usual. October saw online sales increase 10.2% and November followed with a 9% increase. With no doorbuster deals and limited deals propping up prices, average prices were 11% higher than in 2020.
While customers expected faster …
The pandemic has changed the way shoppers buy and receive goods. The IHL market research study Order Management 2021 calls for a 4.5-fold acceleration of the schedule to implement new customer journeys: online purchase with in-store pick-up (BOPIS), same-day delivery and roadside pick-up. These are now widespread, firmly adopted furnishings for the retail trade. According to IDC reports, if BOPIS is not offered, 58.9% of consumers said they will likely choose another retailer. Retailers have quickly unified their online storefronts with their brick and mortar stores and can now provide customers with more detailed information on product availability, location and shipping costs. Companies develop innovative models to reach customers, e.g. B. Fulfillment in well-stocked stores that serve as mini distribution centers, or working with their partners on warehouse-free dropshipping, as we saw earlier this year at The Very Group in collaboration with Adidas and Rebook for D2C distribution.
And dealers provided innovative ideas
An early adopter of new digital initiatives, Walmart tested 15 online shopping events this year, including partnering with Twitter for their first live shopping stream during Cyber Week. The “Cyber Deals Sunday” event, with star musician Jason Derulo as host, enticed people to go shopping.
Twitter is new to e-commerce and is currently testing initiatives in the market. The predictions for the future of integrated shopping allow mobile, virtual assistants and live-stream shopping channels to grow. Fueled by inventory restrictions and the fear that loyal customers might not get their sneakers, Nike sparked a new hype by limiting its coveted Air Force 1 sneakers to two online orders per person and shedding light on social media for avid sneaker fans .
While some companies asked company employees to volunteer for shifts at retail locations during Cyber Week 2021, many companies used ingenuity to overcome staffing bottlenecks to boost sales and streamlined store-to-store orders to handle pressure in warehouses reduce with scarce staff.
How retailers can prepare for 2022:
Intelligence, transparency and flexibility are the building blocks for the future of retail.
- Reinvent supply chain management – Build intelligent workflows, increase business agility and integrate intelligent order orchestration to build a modern supply chain.
- Let the customer know – Pay attention to information transparency. Customers expect and want to know as much as possible about product location, cost comparisons, expected delivery dates, and exact available inventory levels.
- Flexible order processing – Use adaptable, extensible technologies to connect, automate and optimize order, commitment and inventory visibility processes to maximize omnichannel customer loyalty and responsiveness to market changes.
This year has been full of challenges, but we see an overall positive result from Cyber Week with longer shopping time and improved shopping opportunities. Our technology enables unified commerce, in which integrated online and in-store experiences enable a seamless customer journey. Is it time for Black Friday in brick-and-mortar retail to become Cyber Monday for online shopping? Perhaps this is the arrival of Black November, as predicted by IHL’s Jerry Sheldon – or with e-commerce on top, Cyber November. Perhaps now is the time to start thinking about new Christmas shopping traditions.
Learn about changing consumer behavior and next steps in retail when you visit IBM at NRF in New York City starting January 16, 2022. Happy shopping and happy holidays!
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