How geopolitical issues are changing retail logistics this Black Friday

With geopolitical issues continuing to upend the global supply chain, this year, Aramex UK is approaching peak shopping season with a strategy designed to accommodate contemporary challenges of retailers.

Over the past decade or so, Black Friday has evolved into a major highlight in the UK retail calendar, expanding from a weekend of discounts into the month-long shopping event that we have today, placing greater pressure on the supply chain to ensure retailers can meet increased consumer demand.

For Aramex UK, Black Friday and Cyber Monday acts as one of the busiest times of its calendar year, with the company working with a wide range of retailers from major brands to fresh-faced start-ups, helping to ensure that they can meet consumer expectations during this crucial period.

With geopolitical turbulence continuing to pose a threat to delivery schedules, the company has looked to temper such issues by forecasting demand accurately and secure shipping capacity well in advance, while also providing scalable and flexible solutions if necessary.

This preparation ensures that its retail clients, both large and small, can handle the surge in online orders without any major disruptions and meet demand.

Heightened shipping costs, delays and disruptions are just some of the issues facing retailers and their ability to fully prepare for the upcoming peak season.

While traditionally, logistics providers will demand projections well in advance, often months before the holiday season begins, Aramex UK has taken the strategic decision to veer away from this modus operandi by adopting a nuanced, perhaps even an unorthodox approach comparative to the industry norm.

Instead, Aramex UK is ripping up the rule book by implementing a dynamic, demand-driven approach to logistics that includes offering on-demand scalability, adjusting capacity as needed, and providing tailored solutions that can flex with the demands of both major brands and emerging businesses.

This model also means the company can manage last-minute shifts in consumer buying behaviour or unforeseen disruptions more seamlessly.

According to Umar Butt, CEO of UK and Europe at Aramex, this commitment to flexibility and customer-centric solutions has been driven by a recognition that in today’s volatile market, forecasting demand months in advance is becoming increasingly more difficult for retailers, largely due to factors such as shifting consumer behaviour, supply chain disruptions, and seemingly more frequent geopolitical uncertainties.

This operational shift has enabled Aramex UK to navigate the unpredictability of peak seasons like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, enabling its clients to meet ever-increasing consumer demand and remain competitive during a time when shoppers are much more cautious about their spending.

Umar Butt commented: “This year has been an extremely challenging time for retailers. Increased competition as a result of reduced spending, shifting consumer attitudes and expectations, and a never-ending cycle of disruptions to the global supply chain are just some of the issues they have been forced to contend with, making the pressures of peak shopping seasons like Black Friday and Cyber Monday even greater than previously.

“From our own perspective such turbulence has encouraged us to rethink and adapt our operational strategy in order to better support our clients with issues they’re having at this moment in time, not yesterday or ten years ago.

“The world we’re living in now is changing at a rapid rate, which is why embracing an agile and flexible approach to logistics is more critical than ever as the old methods are fast becoming redundant.

Umar continued: “For instance, in an ideal world retailers would be able to accurately forecast volumes well in advance. However, the reality is that external factors such as those experienced this year make formulating accurate predictions incredibly challenging, especially for smaller businesses, and as geopolitical and economic turbulence or even societal shifts become more frequent, this is only going to become more common across the sector.

“Smaller retailers often lack the resources and analytical capabilities that larger firms possess, making it even more difficult for them to anticipate demand fluctuations. By adopting a more agile approach, logistics providers can diligently adapt to these changing demands and provide tailored, or even last-minute, logistics solutions that ensures retailers both large and small can meet demand, whether that be during Black Friday, Christmas or any other peak shopping season.”