MORE than 80% of consumers surveyed by global business advisory firm FTI Consulting, Inc. said they would shop online more this year than last, with a 10% uptick in consumers resorting to online purchases only for their Christmas shopping, compared to last year. Only 12% said they were shopping online because of health or safety issues involving Covid-19, instead citing convenience, best prices and free shipping. Nearly onethird of respondents said they are buying from Walmart.com or Target. com, followed by department stores and specialty chains.

RETAILERS saw e-commerce revenue, as a percentage of total revenue, increase by 33%, according to Blue Yonder’s “Future of Fulfillment Research Report.” Roughly threequarters (71%) of retailers expanded their logistics network to meet increased e-commerce demand and nearly half (46%) said they needed fulfillment centers to be closer to the consumer to reduce costs and enable delivery speed.

SINCE March, 50% of retailers have fulfillment centers dedicated to e-commerce. Only 14% of retailers stated that their fulfillment locations are automated today. Notably, nearly half of retailers (49%) who cite all revenue is from e-commerce have automated fulfillment locations today.

OUT-OF-STOCKS are retailers’ biggest fulfillment challenge, 51% of retailers reported to BlueYonder. In a separate survey, the digital supply chain platform found 55% of consumers are currently stockpiling because they want to avoid the issue of out-of-stock products. Grocery retailers were more likely to cite out-of-stocks (66%) and worker scarcity (43%) than any other product category.

A survey by Oracle of 521 consumers found 53% of U.S. consumers have shopped online for groceries during the pandemic, with 37% stocking up more frequently online than in-store. And few people plan to reverse course, as 93% of those surveyed said they plan to shop online for groceries postpandemic, with 74% noting they will order groceries the same amount or more as they are doing currently.