Early 2018 holiday shopping breaks peak season records

Following on the heels of China’s 11.11 shopping holiday, numbers are out for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. American shoppers kicked off the start of the shopping season in the United States, spending US$24.2 billion shopping online — 23 percent more than what they spent over the same five days in 2017. American consumers spent […]

• Chelsea Toczauer
• November 30, 2018

Online sales drive record holiday volumes at GEODIS

GEODIS is the latest logistics company to announce record volumes following last year’s e-commerce fueled global shopping spree. The company’s U.S. division said that it handled 2.3 million orders between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, a 14 percent increase over 2016’s orders. Paris-based GEODIS said that that the four-day Thanksgiving shopping holiday in the United […]

• Lewis King
• January 11, 2018

Holiday e-commerce demand got an early start in 2017

The growth of e-commerce around peak shopping season is no longer a new story, and this year was no exception. But 2017’s peak season did raise some eyebrows for getting off to an unusually early start, with sales from Nov. 1 to Nov. 22 up 17.9 percent, year-over-year, according to Internet Retailer’s report on the […]

• Caryn Livingston
• December 20, 2017

UPS returns to normal deliveries after cyber week delays

UPS said yesterday that it has returned to normal delivery time-in-transit after a cyber week surge exceeded expectations, causing delays across its U.S. network. UPS expects to deliver about 750 million packages this holiday season – about 40 million more than the 712 million packages the Atlanta-based integrator delivered during the 2016 holiday season. Black […]

• Lewis King
• December 14, 2017

‘Black Friday’ in U.S. brings great news for global e-commerce

The biggest shopping day of the year for the United States – on the Friday following Thanksgiving, also known as “Black Friday” – has come and gone, leaving records shattered in its wake. American retailers brought in a record US$7.9 billion in combined online sales during Black Friday and Thanksgiving, amounting to a 17.9 percent […]

• Caryn Livingston
• November 27, 2017

Green Friday: Amazon’s ‘Frustration-Free Packaging’ reduces peak season waste

Today kicks off the “official” start of the holiday shopping season in the United States. But thanks to the efforts of retailers, such as Amazon.com, “Black Friday” is getting a little bit greener this year, in terms of packaging waste reduction. Amazon doesn’t disclose its undeniably large carbon footprint, but after ten years on the […]

• Lewis King
• November 24, 2017

UPS, FedEx scramble to keep up with peak

We’ve still got just under two weeks until Christmas, but UPS and FedEx are already feeling the heat. Neither carrier wants to see a repeat of Christmas 2013, which ended with 2 million express parcels being delivered after the guaranteed delivery date of Dec. 24, Christmas Eve. While initial 2015 data don’t show problems on […]

• Staff Reports
• December 14, 2015

Consumers prefer low cost over speed during peak

While more peak-season shopping will likely be done online this year than ever before in North America, one of the most important factors in a shopper’s decision to use the web will be cost rather than speed of delivery, according to a consumer survey conducted by Canadian parcel and freight service Purolater International, along with […]

• Staff Reports
• December 1, 2015

UPS, FedEx expect big holiday season

Better watch out. UPS said it expects to deliver more than 630 million packages between “Black Friday” and New Year’s Eve, which would mark an increase of more than 10 percent over 2014. Competitor FedEx is predicting it will deliver a record-breaking 317 million packages globally  between Black Friday and Christmas Eve. If achieved, that […]

• Staff Reports
• November 3, 2015