As Nordstrom brings on more employees, it will pay them a $2-per-hour holiday premium between Oct. 11 and Jan. 2, 2021. Given that the holidays are usually the busiest time of year for retailers, Nordstrom wants to make sure that it has the staffing to fulfill each order and provide a positive customer experience, the company noted in a statement. Using all of its physical locations as online order pickup points should also help with increases in online ordering.
Other retailers, including Sam’s Club, Walmart and Target, have hired more employees for fulfillment services to meet anticipated demand ahead of the holiday season. Though retailers are staffing up for increased holiday demand, research suggests that overall, this holiday season’s sales growth could be minimal. A report from real estate firm CBRE estimates that retailers could see less than 2% sales growth during the 2020 holiday season compared to last year. However, online will drive a large portion of that: CBRE estimates e-commerce growth in November and December of more than 40%, above the 14% growth last year.
Nordstrom’s decision to hire more staff comes as it tries to recover from the COVID-19-induced hardships. In July, the retailer laid off 521 of its Seattle-based employees and struggled to pay its rent.
Source: Retail Dive
Omni Talk is the retail blog for retailers, written by retailers. Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga founded Omni Talk in 2017 and have quickly turned it into one of the fastest growing blogs in retail. 