6 retail forecasts predict the 2022 holiday shopping season

Author

Stephen Babcock
September 22, 2022

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As brands and retailers get ready for the holidays, economists are rolling out their sales forecasts for an uncertain year. The Current dug into six reports, and is sharing results. Key takeaways: Overall sales will moderate, inflation will have a big impact and ecommerce will continue to rise.

At Kroger, CIO Yael Cosset sees customers moving comfortably between shopping in-store, pickup and delivery. At the same time, food-at-home trends are remaining in place, moving from a pandemic imperative to becoming a move to save money amid inflation. A new loyalty program helps to tighten the connection between delivery and discounts.

The capabilities are in place to enable fast delivery, but can brands move inventory to the right place to meet demand? And do customers really need a shirt delivered same-day? These are among the questions that supply chain leaders from Best Buy, Zappos, Petco and Billie considered at Home Delivery World. It's clear the future of logistics will be just as much a matter of optimization as it will be of innovation.

The Federal Reserve made good on signals that it will continue to raise interest rates as it seeks to bring inflation down to 2%, and Chairman Jerome Powell pledged to “keep at it until the job is done.” The question now is what will happen to the economy as a result. Fed projections said unemployment would reach 4.4% by next year, up from its current 3.7%. Powell added that the housing market likely needs a "correction."

Writing at The Drum, Miro Jin digs into how Shein and Anker are moving toward a paradigm of “product-on-demand.” Some of the keys: Deft use of social media to both source and sell, proximity to Chinese manufacturing partners and fast movement into niche categories.

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