
Search
or Search by TOPIC



Search Supply Chain Videocasts

Sign-Up Free Newsletter

Supply Chain by the Numbers

- Nov. 21, 2024

Supply Chain by the Numbers for November 21, 2024

Forrester on 2024 Holiday Sales. Walmart FC Automation Paying Off Big Time. US Freight Shipments to Fall again in 2024. Ford to Lay Off Thousands in Europe over Slow EV Sales


h
3.7%
That is the forecast growth rate of US holiday season retail sales for 2024 from the analysts at Forrester, according to the research firm this week. That is higher than estimate from the NRF, which previously forecast 2024 sales to be up 2.5-3.5% percent versus 2023. Keep in mind these projections do not adjust for inflation, meaning real growth levels are estimated to be from slightly negative to up maybe 1%. Forrester estimates online retail sales will jump 10.1% year over year to $257 billion. Online sales will comprise about 26% of overall US holiday retail sales, the report said. As for in-store sales, Forrester predicts that they will see a low 1.7% increase from the previous year to $744 billion.

That is the projected drop in US freighy shipment volumes for the full year 2024. That according to the October freight report late last week from Cass Information Systems and partner Tim Denoyer of ACT Research, based on data from the billions of dollars of freight bills that Cass pays for its shipper clients. If accurate, it will mark the second consecutive year of shipment declines, after a drop of 5.5% in 2023, as the industry has seen more than two years of freight recession. Interestingly, since Q2, Denoyer has identified a trend weighing on freight volumes for carriers: For-hire fleets likely are seeing soft demand because of significant private fleet capacity additions in the past couple of years. That has led many private fleets to now more actively compete for spot freight to fill empty backhauls.



50%
That is the share of Walmart’s fulfillment center volume is automated, twice as much as this time last year, according to CFO John David Rainey said during the company’s fiscal third-quarter earnings call on Tuesday. “This has the obvious benefit of lowering per unit cost of delivery,” he added. Rainy also said that the automation helped Walmart to achieve its third consecutive quarter of approximately 40% year-over-year reduction in the US net delivery costs per order metric. The company also said that its global, ecommerce revenue was up 27%, and 22% in the US. Ecommerce now makes up 18% of the overall sales – a number Walmart until this did not disclose.



4000
That is the number of Ford factory workers in Europe and the UK that will lose their jobs by the end of 2027, the company announced this week. Ford said most of the job cuts would come in Germany and would be carried out in consultation with employee representatives. It comes shortly an announced of factory closure and major job losses in Germany by VW. The cause of the pullback? Ford said the auto industry is undergoing massive change, and that “The transformation is particularly intense in Europe, where automakers face significant competitive and economic headwinds while also tackling a misalignment between CO2 regulations and consumer demand for electrified vehicles.”

Q

Feedback

No Feedback on this article yet.