Ecommerce supply chain issues—from out-of-stock products to delayed deliveries—have been at the forefront of consumers’ minds since the beginning of the pandemic. Well before the 2020 holiday season, concerns mounted about “shipageddon,” a potential event in which the supply chain wouldn’t be able to adequately meet significantly elevated ecommerce demand between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The retail industry—and consumers—took action to get ahead of the issue. Amazon Prime Day moving to mid-October was a big driver of an earlier kickoff to the holiday season. With Prime Day’s proximity to the holidays, and the corresponding counterprogramming from competing retailers, consumers began making holiday purchases earlier than they did in the past.
And that momentum continued into early November, as retailers ran promotions earlier and more often. This helped pulled demand forward in a way that doesn’t typically happen, but the anticipated shipping volume increase of 30% or more still posed a challenge.
According to ShipMatrix, providers were largely up to the task. On-time delivery rates during the peak Cyber Five period—Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday—were 96.7% for UPS, 95.1% for FedEx, and 93.2% for USPS. During the week of Christmas, on-time rates were 97.6% for UPS, 96.5% for FedEx, and 94.7% for USPS. While these levels were down slightly from 2019, they were surprisingly strong considering the unique challenges of 2020.