Record sales for Black Friday can only mean one thing–this Cyber Monday is about to be the largest online spending day ever.
Black Friday sales increased 22% from last year to hit $9 billion, according to online tracker Adobe Analytics, setting up a Cyber Monday that is being forecast for all-time single-day record sales of $10.8 billion to $12.7 billion.
On the flip side, the retail push to online deals and shorter-than-typical Black Friday store hours reduced traffic in physical stores by 52%, according to retail tracker Sensormatic Solutions, Inc.
“We knew Black Friday was going to be down, we just didn’t know how much it was going to be down,” remarked Brian Field, Sensormatic Solutions senior director of global retail consulting. “Shoppers are spreading out their shopping throughout the holiday season because of concerns about social distancing and the pandemic.”
Consumers filled their virtual carts at a 22% increase over last year’s Black Friday. Combine that with Cyber Monday expectations and “Shipageddon” could be coming.
Companies have been bracing themselves for this e-commerce rush since the pandemic began, but the record-setting retail days could strain stockroom supplies and delivery abilities. FedEx, UPS and the U.S. Postal Office already are operating at maximum to keep up with online orders.
“Nobody can scale up that fast,” Ship Matrix President Satish Jindel told CNBC. “You may have heard the expression, ‘You don’t build a church for Easter Sunday.’ But the delivery carriers are going to have to accommodate people, even if the church is not big enough.”
That church might be big enough for all the people praying that millions of packages aren’t delayed.
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