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State of Logistics 2016: Pursue mutual benefit NRF calls for 3.6 percent annual increase for holiday season retail sales CHRW finalizes acquisition of APC Logistics 2017 Annual 3PL Study takes wide-ranging look at role of 3PL in different supply chain areas Manufacturing gets back on track in September, reports ISM More Logistics News How Lean is your Lean Quality Program? Avoid quality program bureaucracy that can sap logistics productivity and increase costs All Resources Not before too long, the holiday shopping season will be here in full bloom. And while it still may be a tad too early to specifically gauge how things will turn out, the National Retail Federation (NRF) appears to be pretty optimistic in its forecast, not unlike past years. Holiday sales, as defined by the NRF, are sales in the months of November and December and exclude autos, gas, and restaurant sales. And for 2016 the NRF is calling for holiday retail sales to head up 3.6 percent annually to $655.8 million, which marks a decent boost compared to the 10-year average of 2.5 percent and is also above the seven-year average of 3.4 percent, going back to the beginning of the economic recovery in 2009. As expected, e-commerce is again expected to play a large role in holiday shopping, with the NRF saying it expects online sales to head up between 7 and 10 percent annually to as much as $117 billion, which is 10.3 percent higher than last year’s online holiday sales projection. While the NRF’s holiday sales forecast is promising it is actually slightly off from 2015’s and 2014’s 3.7 percent and 4.1 percent forecasts, respectively. The 2015 holiday shopping season ended up seeing a 3.0 percent annual increase. The NRF’s holiday sales forecast, according to the organization, is based on an […]