Halloween. Black Friday. Christmas. You should put in your order for Christmas now because retailers won’t be able to stock everything back up fast enough with the ongoing port closures and COVID-related delays.
“I half-jokingly tell people ‘Order your Christmas presents now because otherwise on Christmas day, there may just be a picture of something that’s not coming until February or March,'” says Scott Price, President of UPS International.
In a survey by CreditCards.com, 1 in 4 consumers plan to start crossing off their Christmas checklists by the end of this month while half plan to start before Halloween. Savvy shoppers who keep up with the news know about the plethora of supply chain disruptions and have made their move early.
Meanwhile, on the retail side, major retailers from Best Buy to Target are placing their orders early amid strong consumer demand. Despite these preparations, many are looking to see reduced stock from port congestion in California to port closures in Vietnam where raw materials are shipped.
