On March 1st, I wrote in this space about a scarcity of shipping equipment and containers available for ocean freight from China to the U.S. and Europe impacting the supply chain for consumer goods and the costs companies were paying to import products. At that time, indexes tracking such container rates had surpassed $5,000 from […]

In April 2020, Daphne Howland of Retail Dive wrote “Few retailers will come out of this unprecedented moment unscathed, but department stores are at a point of no return. None can go back to business as usual. Some may not come back at all.” What a difference a year makes. Now, in the face of […]

The rapid spread of the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant has grabbed national headlines and put a dent in people’s optimism that the pandemic will soon be over in the U.S. According to the New York Times, as of this morning, case counts in the U.S. are continuing to climb rapidly, with the seven-day rolling […]

With early-returning school districts already opening their doors and welcoming back students, the back-to-school shopping season is in full swing.  But for a second year in a row, COVID-19 is creating significant uncertainty for students, parents, teachers, administrators, and the retailers that can typically count on a surge in school-related spending at this time of […]

For Hallmark Channel viewers, Christmas in July is a thing.  And at least some of us are beginning to think that Christmas shopping in July should be a thing too. Import logistics issues have dogged the U.S. for months now. It started with shipping capacity shortages for goods sourced from Asia, which has resulted in […]