Shoppers made late surge to stores to dodge shipping logjam

(xtensive delays at the 8.S. Postal Service have pushed millions of Americans to do the one thing they swore they wouldn t this holiday season shop inside stores.

On Dec. 24, parking lots filled across the 8.S. with shoppers grabbing last-minute items after finally admitting to themselves the in-transit orders they placed online days or weeks earlier might not make it in time for hristmas.

hristmas comes whether the Postal Service does or not, said Simeon Siegel, analyst at B0O apital 0arkets. At the end of the day, Santa has to deliver. ,f that means that the Postal Service or port stoppages or any other supply bottlenecks are preventing items from getting to the tree, there ll been a last-minute attempt to find something.

The rush to the mall is good news for retailers, many of which are still trying to make up for the sales they lost when shuttered during lockdowns earlier this year. ,n-person purchases carry higher margins than delivered items, plus shoppers are more likely to throw in something extra at the last second when gift-hunting in store, boosting basket si es and companies net sales.

Americans largely shunned in-person shopping this year to steer clear of potential virus exposure. Seasonal shopping started weeks earlier than usual and more of the volume moved online, resulting in

Black )riday visits dropping 2 compared to a year ago, according to data from Sensormatic Solutions. ,t was also down sharply over Super Saturday weekend, traditionally the last shopping surge before hristmas.

But as the post office reports unprecedented volumes and large swaths of its workforce out due to covid- , those packages are piling up in delivery trucks and processing plants, rather than under the tree. :ith delivery statuses lingering in-transit and only about 2 hours until hristmas, some 8.S. shoppers decided they had to mask up and hit the stores after all.

There s surprisingly a lot of people heading out last minute, abriella Santaniello, founder of retail research firm A-Line Partners, said after visiting stores near Los Angeles in the final days leading up to hristmas. esterday, , was at one mall and it was the busiest mall , ve been to since pre-pandemic.

That marks a big change from Must a few days ago, when the Super Saturday crowds never materiali ed. Activity during Super Saturday and Black )riday weekends was so low, in fact, Sensormatic Solutions had to revise down its foot-traffic forecast for the entire holiday season. That s because as of last Saturday, shoppers still held onto hope their orders would make it. 1o longer.

Shipping delays have been an issue this year, which is resulting in consumers shifting from online to in-store to make their last minute purchases, according to the ,nternational ouncil of Shopping enters. )ewer than half of consumers had finished their holiday shopping heading into last weekend, it said.

0acken i )arTuer, owner of Lockwood, a small chain of boutiTues in 1ew ork ity, is experiencing the boom first hand. She said there was a block-long line outside her Astoria, 4ueens, location on hristmas (ve when she arrived at work at 0 a.m. The day before was the busiest her store has been since the pandemic began, and she s had to turn away shoppers at closing time.

To me, as a retailer, it s shocking, she said. :e close at p.m. tonight and , suspect we ll have to tell people that unfortunately, they can t come in. Last night we had to close even though there were folks still in line waiting to get in.