Point of Sale

Consumer economy to be “A Tale of Two Halves”

(Chart: Bank of America)

The U.S. economy, though certainly aided by exorbitant fiscal stimulus, did prove one long-held truism — the American consumer is resilient, nearly impossible to break, and he or she will continue to spend almost regardless of the circumstances (even including the biggest quarterly drop in real GDP in 90 years since the Great Depression). Consumers drove the economy and the freight market throughout the back half of 2020, and for at least the first half of 2021, the...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/consumer-economy-to-be-a-tale-of-two-halves

5 predictions for retail supply chains in 2021

Rather than recapping 2020, I’d rather look onward. There have been a ton of retail supply chain changes this past year. Some will last, others will not. Let’s collectively lick our wounds and look forward. Here’s 5 predictions for the retail supply chain in 2021.

Correction, inventory

Much has been made of relatively low inventory levels across the retail supply chain this year. The inventory-to-sales ratio currently stands at 1.31, down from 1.40 this time last year. We at FreightWaves have...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/5-predictions-for-the-retail-supply-chain-in-2021

Retail sector’s holiday winners and losers

Americans being stuck at home or out of work this holiday season did not hamper holiday retails sales, according to data compiled by Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks overall retail spending across all payment types.

Preliminary data from SpendingPulse found that holiday retail sales, excluding automotive and gasoline, rose 3% this year compared to 2019. Online sales grew 49% year-over-year.

“American consumers turned the holiday season on its head, redefining ‘home for the holidays’ in a...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/retail-sectors-holiday-winners-and-losers

Introducing FreightWaves Communities

This morning at FreightWaves LIVE, FreightWaves founder and CEO Craig Fuller and Director of Passport Research JP Hampstead announced the launch of FreightWaves Communities, a new initiative to build highly engaged audiences of supply chain professionals in specific industry verticals.

Beginning with a focus on retail, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and automotive supply chains, Communities will deliver newsletters, editorial content, podcasts, and videos directly to practitioners in those...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/introducing-freightwaves-communities

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