As early as November, many users of popular online marketplaces dig deep into their pockets for Black Friday deals. But online retail booms throughout the entire pre-Christmas period. The rapid and widespread availability of goods quickly leads to substantial volumes of shipments, placing enormous demands on logistics. OCS investigated.

Even last-minute delivery offers guarantee consumers that their ordered items will be delivered in time for Christmas Eve. Just-in-time delivery has been a crucial logistical factor, particularly in industry, for the past few decades, and now appears to be extending to the private sector. According to statistics, logistics providers are facing over 11 million parcel shipments this year that need to be delivered.

Online shopping is becoming increasingly popular

This is primarily due to the increased popularity of online shopping. Around 16 million Germans, or one in five, now order their Christmas gifts online. Shops begin intensive preparations for this surge in sales as early as autumn. Customers expect not only high quality but, above all, on-time delivery – even if they only placed their Christmas order the day before. For logistics, this means handling significantly more shipments within the same timeframe.

Santa Claus is lying!

But what exactly does that mean for the logistics Santa Claus? The traditional stories are anything but realistic: with just a few flying reindeer and a sleigh, the presents aren't exactly going to be delivered in a reasonable amount of time. Let's assume that the aforementioned 16 million orders each weigh 1 kilogram and that each package has the dimensions of one cubic meter (1 meter wide, 1 meter deep, 1 meter high). The sleigh would therefore need a volume of at least 16 million cubic meters, with a load-bearing capacity of around 16,000 tons. Whoever manages to get that sleigh flying should probably apply to the aviation industry. Wow!

Tomorrow, children, will there be something! Or maybe not?

But the stress for Santa Claus begins even before the presents are delivered. There are approximately 11,290,815 children under the age of 14 living in Germany. If each of them wrote a wish list to Santa, that would be the corresponding number of letters. Reading 11,290,815 letters would take Santa 3,920.42 days if he spent half a minute on each wish list. That's almost 10.74 years, which means that, in the worst-case scenario, six-year-old Phillip's present wouldn't arrive until he's almost 17. And would a coloring book still be of much use then?

Real logistics facts about the pre-Christmas period

Even if we take Santa Claus with a grain of salt, logistics are doubly challenged during the Advent season. Naturally, the increased number of orders impacts every aspect of the logistics chain: increased storage capacity, more deliveries, and more staff. The months of November and December are considered the peak Christmas season, generating approximately 15 percent of total annual sales for retailers. Toy stores even achieve nearly 30 percent of their total annual revenue during the pre-Christmas period, while booksellers and online retailers see around 25 percent. The German Retail Federation (HDE) predicts sales exceeding €100 billion for the 2019 Christmas season. Online retail is experiencing the strongest growth, with an increase of approximately 10 percent compared to the previous year.

On-time delivery is expected   

As previously described, the "just in time" principle applies to private deliveries as well during the Christmas season. No one wants to see sad faces under the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve simply because logistics failed to deliver on time. The increased volume of shipments is resulting in thousands of short-term hires in the logistics industry. Without these additional helpers, the Christmas rush would be impossible. For example, courier, express, and parcel (CEP) delivery companies are employing nearly 25,000 additional drivers, and internet giant Amazon is hiring 13,000 seasonal workers in its logistics centers, in addition to its approximately 12,000 permanent employees. But it's not just more personnel that are needed; additional vehicles are also required for processing deliveries. Furthermore, optimized route planning is a crucial element in ensuring timely deliveries to all delivery points.