Macy’s Inc recently revealed that it doesn’t expect the global supply chain problems to hurt its sales this holiday shopping season, raising its full-year sales and profits as a result. According to the retailer, they have prepared for these problems ahead of time and have worked to grow their inventory before the holiday shopping season gets very busy. As a result, they have a rather large inventory to work with, signaling that shoppers shouldn’t have an issue with empty shelves at Macy’s.
Macy’s is yet another retailer to announce this positive outlook for the near future, helping their shares surge as a result. Previously, both Target and T.J. Maxx announced that they had worked to ensure they have a large inventory for the holiday shopping season.
For the past few months, analysts have warned both consumers and businesses that the massive supply chain problems and bottlenecks may hinder the holiday shopping season. Because it is taking so long for businesses to get items — as a result of delays and port clogs — many thought that store shelves would quickly become empty, with many consumers missing out on items they’d like.
Businesses then announced they work working overtime — and spending a lot of money in the process — to ensure that their stores would not be empty. Consumers also started buy items for the holiday season earlier than normal to make sure that they’re getting the items they want before they potentially sell out. Now, though, many businesses (larger ones) have come out to ensure consumers that they will be able to successfully and happily shop at their stores this holiday season, with no issues from the global supply chain affecting them.
Department stores will likely do well during the end of the year shopping. While many department stores experienced a rather large slump when the pandemic first started in 2020, sales have risen in the last few months of 2021. Macy’s is now forecasting net sales of $24.12 billion to $24.28 billion now. To ensure they they have fully stocked sales, the retailer has also helped increase its inventory by about 19.4% in the third quarter, well before the holiday shopping season began.
While larger corporations have the money to stock up their inventory and make sure they have enough items to go around for their consumers, many smaller businesses have been — and will be — hurt by these supply chain problems. While Macy’s and Walmart may not have an issue this holiday season, and while they may actually do quite well, other businesses aren’t in the same positon.
There are even some large companies that are still be impacted by the supply chain problems, though. Kohl’s recently announced they did have inventory shortages, though only in women’s apparel. The rest of their inventory is well stocked. As a result, even with this potential problem, Kohl’s has already increased its full-year outlook.
Supply chain issues could still impact consumers this holiday season, especially if consumers buy items online. However, as for shopping in stores, it appears most places have ensured that they are well stocked for consumers this year.