|
2022 is coming to an end. Amid the bleak cold wind and the raging epidemic, people across borders are welcoming the last peak season promotion of the year.
However, perhaps the Black Friday and other online promotions have already overdrawn the wallets of European and American consumers, and today's Christmas peak season is quite bleak. Christmas sales plummeted by 80%, and a large number of packages were delayed The annual Christmas season kicks off the New Year holidays in Europe and America. In previous years, the strong festive atmosphere often ignited the consumption enthusiasm of foreigners, who prepared a large number of holiday items to celebrate reunion with relatives and friends.
However, due to the increasing uncertainty in the macro environment and the continued high inflation, most European and American consumers have tightened their wallets and cut back on holiday shopping, and the boosting effect of the big promotion has obviously weakened. This trend was visible from the beginning of Thanksgiving and Black Friday, and it intensified during the Christmas peak season.
A seller in the toy category said that his products usually reach a sales peak around December 10th every year and last until December 22nd, US time. However, when the same product was captured in the same time period in 2021 and 2022, it was found that the number of visitors during the peak period this year was much lower than in previous years, and by December 20th, US time, the traffic had plummeted by half.
Another seller said frankly that the decline in orders during the last Christmas period this year was almost terrifying, shrinking by about 80% compared to last year. Currently, there are only about two or three orders per day, which is significantly lower than the same period last year.
The same phenomenon occurred to many sellers:
"Our category started to decline on December 22 last year, and on the 20th this year. The peak season this year only lasted 10 days in total, and the number of orders dropped by nearly half compared to the same period last year." "Our sales started to drop sharply on the 20th, and were one-third of the sales on the 19th. This continued for the past three days, so we quickly cut our advertising budget in half." "We have dropped 8/9. I guess all the traffic has been taken away by Pinduoduo. Last year, the sales on the 22nd were still good, but this year it's gone." “It peaked between the 16th and 19th, and then it basically dropped by 20%. Today’s is basically half of yesterday’s. This year’s advertising was given too late. The bidding and budget should have been pushed in December. There are only 30% of inventory left.”
Based on feedback from all sellers, this year's Christmas peak season is facing two major problems: weak explosiveness and insufficient stamina.
On the one hand, this year's Christmas sales peak has seen a significant decline compared to last year, with traffic and order volume greatly reduced compared to the same period in previous years; on the other hand, after passing the sales peak critical point, sales have been declining all the way, and most sellers' products have been steadily declining at a rate of 20% per day since December 20.
Looking at the dismal reception of this year's Christmas season, part of the reason may be that inflation has suppressed the spending power of Europeans and Americans, and that the Black Friday online shopping season has been extended, with many discounts being brought forward.
In addition, many sellers believe that Amazon’s large-scale layoffs have led to a shortage of warehouse and delivery personnel, and the sharp decline in warehousing and logistics efficiency is the most critical reason for the cold Christmas.
In previous years, Amazon was able to deliver customer orders before Christmas around the 22nd or 23rd, so the peak season usually ended before the last day of delivery. However, Amazon, which usually delivers orders every other day, can no longer guarantee delivery within 4-5 days. Most orders from the US site after the 20th cannot be delivered on time before Christmas.
Many sellers found the "delivery after Xmax" logo when browsing products , and naturally lost the desire to consume. Therefore, this year's online Christmas promotion ended exceptionally early.
Sales are sluggish and the epidemic is raging, and a large number of sellers celebrate the Chinese New Year in advance As the year is coming to an end, many cross-border sellers are hoping to make a last-ditch effort before the Lunar New Year, prepare sufficient supply and wrap up the year perfectly to welcome the Lunar New Year. However, under the pressure of multiple factors such as the epidemic, sellers' final battle before the Lunar New Year is not very peaceful.
With the gradual relaxation of domestic epidemic policies, the infection rate of COVID-19 has increased significantly across the country in recent times. Many foreign trade factories have been forced to suspend production due to a severe shortage of labor due to a large number of workers being infected. This has further caused a chain reaction of delayed delivery of goods and product shortages.
At the same time, many cross-border companies are also performing a large-scale "sheep coming" drama every day, and colleagues around them are gradually "disappearing". The large-scale infection of employees has also greatly reduced the operating efficiency of many cross-border companies.
"Half of the operations staff are gone, the logistics department has been wiped out, and we can't ship any goods this week. The only clerical staff left is a lady from the finance department," a seller admitted.
One seller said helplessly: "I will continue to work overtime at the warehouse today to help pack. I have seen the dawn of victory. Because the company's first batch of positive products will be returned next week, there will be no problem in maintaining daily operations. I can relax and wait for the positive products."
Under the fierce attack of the COVID-19 epidemic, a large number of cross-border companies are sparsely staffed, and store operations, warehouse delivery and other processes have been impacted to a certain extent. Coupled with the cold reception of the Christmas promotion, sluggish sales and out-of-stock problems, some cross-border companies have begun to plan to take holidays in advance for the New Year.
One seller revealed that his company has been on holiday since New Year's Day, for a total of 45 days. Another seller said that due to severe shortages and logistics suspension, it is likely that they will "lay down for the New Year" from the end of this month.
| 
