Deliveries Slow Down as Economy Reopens for Business

 

Deliveries saw a huge spike during the pandemic, with shoppers locked indoors and companies working harder than ever to accelerate ecommerce strategies to usher in a new era of doing business.

Now, though, with reopening progressing, some of those elevated numbers are regressing to the mean — or worse. What does this mean for the future hybridized role of our retail sector?

Let’s Hash It Out.

Shares of UPS dropped recently, as the company said second-quarter domestic volume fell 2.9%. Ground deliveries, composed largely of ecommerce deliveries, dropped 4% versus the year prior.

Could these numbers be the first signs of a permanent shift for consumer expectations and the current rate of growth? While it’s reasonable to expect people to go back into stores more often, causing the rate of growth for shipping to drop as a result, has there now truly been a permanent shift in consumer behavior surrounding delivery?

These questions raise even more about the future of pickup and deliver. Is there a difference between food delivery and other goods? Is the ecommerce boom slowing or experiencing a natural progression for post-pandemic life? Will the holiday ecommerce numbers surpass the numbers from 2020, and how will that impact shipping and logistics numbers? Hosts Daniel Litwin, Tyler Kern, and Taylor Bagley lay out the context and offer their hot takes and cool heads.

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