Before COVID-19, we’ve never ordered products online at rates like this. With the holidays coming up so soon, it’s inevitable that there will be shipping problems this year.
There are mass holiday shipment problems due to the high amounts of business restocking as they try to catch up with new product demand from online customers. This is going to be a problem for late shoppers, as the longer they wait to order their holiday products, it’s only going to be more expensive for shipping prices. Not to mention how much longer it will take to get to the destination due to this huge demand.
According to CBS News, the shipping problems are going to last through 2022 due to the Delta variant’s leftover causes. Most people buy online since COVID has affected in-person shopping for everyone. Now with stores mostly fully open, people are still choosing to shop online and return what they don’t want in the store. Retailers are struggling to keep up with the online returns compared to in-store purchases.
Sure, the boats are making it to the ports in time and they’re not necessarily “stuck in the middle of the ocean,” but they are dealing with problems at the ports. It’s like merging ten lanes of NYC traffic into two lanes; the boats are just stuck waiting to be unloaded at the port.
So what does this mean? Try to stop online shopping. This holiday season, get back to the classic holiday mall shopping with friends and family. Almost all malls are back open and in business and they are desperate for in store sales. Even better, go to your local businesses to find gifts. Small businesses are struggling to keep up with other retailers that win over customers through their online sites.
Open up your box of creativity this year, everyone loves gifts that came from the heart. If you can find it on Amazon or Shein, you can make or find the same thing somewhere better.