Parcel Pending Predicts Top 2020 Holiday Shopping Trends

Significant spikes in package delivery volumes are expected this holiday season as e-commerce sales are predicted to surge by up to 35 percent compared to the 2019 gift-giving season.

IRVINE, CA—(October 27, 2020) – The 2020 holiday shopping season, which kicked-off earlier than ever this year, is poised to break records for online sales. Parcel Pending by Quadient, the leading provider of package management solutions for residential, commercial, retail and university properties in the United States and Canada, today announced its predictions for the top trends of the 2020 gift-giving season.

“Online sales are soaring at record highs. This is truly going to be unlike any holiday season we have ever seen before in terms of unprecedented, high volumes of packages,” stated Lori A. Torres, CEO and Founder of Parcel Pending.

In fact, Salesforce estimates that as much as $6 billion of U.S. retail spending, which typically occurs during Cyber Week in November, will take place this month. Additionally, Deloitte expects holiday e-commerce sales to increase by up to 35 percent compared to last year generating up to $196 billion.

“This holiday season, consumers are shopping much earlier than ever and they’re doing it digitally so retailers need to offer a seamless, safe and contact-free BOPIS experience. This is where our smart lockers come into play,” continued Torres. “Our Buy Online, Pick-up In Locker solution helps retailers enhance their customer experience, save valuable staff time and drive additional purchases – all of which are key during this gift-giving time of year.”

Parcel Pending’s 2020 Holiday Shopping Trends Predictions:

• Tis’ the Season to Shop Early. According to Coresight, three in 10 consumers say they expect to start their holiday shopping earlier than usual this year. Many major retailers like Kohl’s, Target, Best Buy and Walmart opted to start their holiday deals in mid-October versus November to try to boost consumer spending. Parcel Pending predicts that retailers will continue to run Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday deals, sales bundles and holiday promotions and discounts from now until January in order to extend the holiday period and generate revenue.
• Online Shopping is Where It’s At. COVID-19 has dramatically shifted the way consumers shop. In fact, McKinsey reports that e-commerce penetration saw 10 years’ growth in Q1 2020 reaching nearly 35 percent penetration. Additionally, Forrester predicts that online retail sales will grow 18.5 percent this year – the fastest growth since 2008. And when it comes to the holiday season, nearly 50 percent of Americans said they’ll purchase gifts mostly or entirely online.
• More Packages Than Ever Before. Americans are shopping online now more than ever due to COVID-19, and multifamily communities need to be prepared to manage record-breaking package volume this holiday season. In fact, a recent survey by Accenture estimates that 77 percent of consumers want online purchases delivered to their homes. This compounds an already significant increase in home deliveries since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, Parcel Pending expects couriers to deliver significantly more packages as consumers opt to avoid stores and shop online – with communities potentially seeing as many as 486 package deliveries per week. This is important for multifamily communities to be aware of as the number of packages they receive typically increases from an average of 150 packages per week to 270 packages per week during the holidays – an 81 percent increase.
• Porch Pirates on the Prowl. With the increase in packages comes an increase in porch pirate and package theft incidences. From March to July of this year, 1 in 5 Americans reported having had a package or delivery stolen. And the majority of package theft – 40 percent – occurs in apartment communities. While package theft is a major nuisance for consumers, it also has financial repercussions. In fact, Americans report losing an average of $106 to porch piracy, and about 30 percent report not receiving any financial reimbursement for their loss. Sadly, less than half of Americans reported that their porch pirate was caught. This is where innovative proptech solutions like Parcel Pending smart package lockers come into play.
• Demand for Contact-free Package Pick-up. With the boom in online shopping also comes the demand for safe, contact-free package retrieval. A recent study shows that a whopping 87 percent of consumers prefer contact-free pick-up options. At Parcel Pending, downloads of our mobile app, which allows for contact-free package pick-up, recently grew by 46 percent. We anticipate that usage of our contact-free mobile app features will continue to increase this holiday season as contact-free package retrieval shifts from a “nice to have” to a necessity.

“Many of our multifamily partners have experienced year-over-year package volume increases between 60 to 67 percent this year,” explained Torres. “We expect that year-round, holiday-like package volume will continue in 2021 and want to remind communities that it is not too late to invest in a smart locker solution. Our proptech solution is designed to improve the resident experience, deter package theft, save staff time and drive resident retention so it’s a win-win for property managers and residents.”

To learn more about Parcel Pending, visit www.parcelpending.com.

About Parcel Pending by Quadient

Parcel Pending is the leading provider of package management solutions for residential, commercial, retail and university properties in the United States and Canada. In 2019, Parcel Pending was acquired by Quadient, the global leader in parcel, mailing, customer experience and business process automation solutions. Parcel Pending by Quadient, with nearly 3 million packages successfully delivered monthly, offers a wide range of solutions that ensure the simple and secure delivery and retrieval of packages and online orders. With the strength of our combined power, reach and offerings, Parcel Pending by Quadient provides state-of-the-art solutions and world-class customer service to solve the last-mile delivery challenge.

To learn more, visit www.parcelpending.com.