But on the logistics side of the coin, last week was frenetic, with warehousing and delivery companies going into overdrive, kicking off the first inning of what could be the busiest holiday season yet.
With the perspective of a few extra days, the events of what some are calling ‘Cyber Week’ underscore the extent to which e-commerce has become a central part of the U.S. economy, and how the logistics sector is adapting.
So what have we learned? Here are a couple of developments that stand out for the logistics-oriented observer.
According to Adobe, which tracks data through its analytics services, e-commerce sales were up 16.8 percent compared to last year, and this Cyber Monday was likely the largest online shopping day in U.S. history. You hear that sound? That’s the sound of jets, trucks and robots working full tilt to deliver packages — not the sound of unhappy customers complaining on the internet. But those happy shoppers are the product of some serious planning. FedEx, for example, expects to handle between 380 million and 400 million packages this holiday season, and they say they’ve got the seasonal manpower ready to take on the additional volumes.
