The pandemic not only changed how consumers shopped, but also affected how much they shop.According to Emily Straussbell, a market analyst at Xeneta, the American retail market is highlighting the impact that this has on freight.“In the US, retail outlets are again running at pre-pandemic levels – and this sounds like good news,” she said during an online presentation. “But it also begs the question as to how this fits in with the high inf lation rate. Retail sales are measured in value, and so essentially what it means is that consumers are spending as much as they used to. The reality, however, is that they are leaving the shops with far fewer goods.”In shipping, the only thing more important than value is volume. “If consumers are leaving shops with fewer goods, it simply means fewer containers were required to import those products.”This in itself is not good news for the logistics and shipping industry. A further nuance, said Straussbell, added more gloom to the picture. “Looking at what money is being spent on at present, it is clear to see the highest growth rate in spending is on food and fuel, which are traditionally not high container-imported goods. Furthermore, there’s slower growth in spending on traditionally containerised imported goods in line with inf lation, suggesting the volume of goods leaving the shops is f lat on last year.”She said the impact of retail sales and volumes keeping up had the most impact on freight rates on the spot market. “They are not likely to drop massively any time soon, although we have seen a slight declining trend that we do expect to continue going forward.”
