What: Much-anticipated logistic crunch led US retailers to stock items earlier than last year to make sure they would not be in a bottleneck at Christmas.

Why it is important: Many of them are either tempted, or forced, to launch seasonal sales way earlier than last year, to respond to a structural need in terms of capital and space.

The post pandemic retail scene is affected by two factors combining themselves to make things worse: a renewed customer hunger for purchases (Deloitte expects a +7 to +9% surge compared to 2020 during holidays) weighing in on disrupted supply chains, which were halted during Covid-19 lockdowns. As a consequence, many retailers anticipated a global shortage of goods (which might happen anyways for those of them who are late in restocking) and increased their inventory level significantly earlier in the year than in 2020.

As a consequence, retailers are also tempted to offer deals and discounts ahead of the season, in order to free up capital and space. Amazon for instance will start promotions 8 weeks before Black Friday and 11 days earlier than in 2020, while Target will also start deal days on October 10. As a consequence, many analysists are worried that this leads to a price war ahead of the traditional weeks when customers are offered discounts, leading to another major Post-Covid-19 change in retail practices.

US Christmas retail crush comes early as supply chains buckle