As early as November, many users of well-known sales platforms dig deep into their pockets on Black Friday and grab lots of great offers. But mail order sales are also booming throughout the entire pre-Christmas period. Particularly due to the rapid and high availability, significantly large quantities of goods are shipped very quickly, which places enormous demands on logistics. OCS has informed itself.
Last-minute order offers also guarantee consumers that the items they have ordered will be delivered in time for Christmas Eve. Just-in-time has been an important logistics factor in industry over the last few decades, but it now appears to have spread to the private sector as well. According to statistics, logistics service providers are faced with over 11 million parcel shipments that need to be distributed this year.
Online shopping is becoming increasingly popular
This circumstance is primarily due to the increased enthusiasm for shopping on the Internet. Around 16 million Germans, or one in five, now order their Christmas presents online. The shops are already urgently preparing for the increase in sales in autumn. Customers not only expect appropriate quality, but above all, punctual delivery - even if they only placed their Christmas order the day before. For logistics, this means, above all, handling far more shipments in the same time.
Santa Claus is cheating!
But what exactly does this mean for the logistics Santa Claus? The traditional stories are anything but realistic: with just a few flying reindeer and a sleigh, the gifts aren't really distributed in a reasonable amount of time. Let's assume that the 16 million orders mentioned above weigh 1 kilogram each and each package has the dimensions of one cubic meter (1 meter wide, 1 meter deep, 1 meter high). The sleigh would therefore have to have a volume of at least 16 million cubic meters and the load capacity would be around 16,000 tons. Anyone who gets the sleigh to fly should probably apply for a job in the aviation industry. Wow!
Tomorrow children, there will be something! Or not?
But even before the presents are delivered, the stress begins for Santa Claus. There are around 11,290,815 children under the age of 14 living in Germany. If each of them writes a wish list to Santa Claus, it will be the corresponding number of letters. Reading 11,290,815 letters would take Santa Claus 3,920.42 days if he held each wish list in his hands for half a minute. That's almost 10.74 years, which in turn means: In the worst case scenario, the gift for six-year-old Phillip would not arrive until he is almost 17 years old. And does the coloring book still make a lot of sense?
Real logistics facts for the run-up to Christmas
Even if you look at Santa Claus with a little wink, logistics are doubly challenged during Advent. Of course, the increased number of orders affects every area of the logistics chain. Increased storage capacity, more deliveries, more staff. The months of November and December are considered Christmas business, in which, for example, around 15 percent of total annual sales are generated in the retail sector. Toy retailers even realize almost 30 percent of their total annual sales in the run-up to Christmas, while booksellers achieve around 25 percent, as does online retail. The German Trade Association predicts sales of more than 100 billion euros for the 2019 Christmas business. Online retail is growing the fastest, with an increase of around 10 percent compared to the previous year.
On-time delivery is expected
As already described, “Just in Time” also applies in the private sector during the Christmas season. Nobody wants to see sad eyes under the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve just because logistics didn't manage to deliver on time. The increased shipment volume is bringing thousands of short-term hires to the logistics industry. Without the additional helpers, the Christmas business would not be possible. For example, the delivery companies in the courier, express and parcel industry (KEP) employ almost 25,000 additional drivers, while the Internet giant Amazon employs 13,000 seasonal workers in its logistics centers in addition to its approximately 12,000 permanent employees. But not only more staff, additional vehicles are also needed for handling. In addition, optimized route guidance is an important basic building block in order to be able to deliver to all unloading points on time.
