Cyber Monday Adds to the Surge of Online Sales
Updated 10:55 AM ET, Mon November 30, 2020
Technology goes hand in hand these days. As we all ate our Thanksgiving meals with family and watched Christmas movies by the fire, most of us sat on our mobile devices looking for great deals online. This year was a little different with the pandemic. Retail stores didn’t really seem as busy. Foot traffic at brick and mortar stores tumbled compared with last year but online purchases on Black Friday surged 21.6% to hit a new record.
21% is big! And that was just on Black Friday. Today is Cyber Monday. The increase in shoppers today should break all records. With Cyber Monday starting in 2005, the Monday after Thanksgiving, it’s hard to believe we have come this far. Instead of ordering it on your large tower desktop or thick laptop, we are doing it from our phones 15 years later. Amazon Prime also debuted in 2005 with two-day shipping. That started a wave of instant delivery and even same-day delivery with Wal-Mart +. So here we are today with goods, toys, and other necessitates that are readily available at the click of a button.
How can these companies manage this kind of demand? Online warehouses and e-commerce distribution centers depend on the future of automation and material handling. Larger companies have had this type of automation for years but they are going to have to build more distribution centers, purchase more equipment, and upgrade existing services to keep up with this demand. Mid-size and smaller outfits are going to have to invest in new ideas and purchase new equipment that can compete with larger retailers.
SNS is a total systems integrator for the postal/parcel and material handling industry. If your company is experiencing challenges with automation, please contact us below to speak with an automation specialist.