DAYTON, Ohio -- Most major retailers have already begun gearing up for the all-important Christmas shopping season, posting help-wanted ads for part-time and seasonal workers.
And, similar to previous years, hiring patterns are likely to follow the retail industry's continued swing toward e-commerce, where Christmas sales are expected to grow 7-10 percent over last year, according to the latest forecast from the National Retail Federation.
"It used to be that the bulk of holiday hires would be in customer-facing positions on the sales floor," said John Challenger, chief executive officer of outplacement consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. "But we keep shifting in this economy from big-store retail to e-commerce, and that shift means that the number of workers being hired as sales people and cashiers is stagnant to dropping ... while the number of people hired in transportation, warehousing and distribution centers is growing."
Overall Christmas sales -- including in-store sales -- are projected to grow just 3.4 percent, reflecting lackluster growth in traditional retail channels, according to the National Retail Federation.
Retailers are still hiring seasonal workers to work the sales floor, but the number of seasonal hires has been flat in recent years.
Kohl's said last year that it would hire 69,000 workers for the Christmas season, a slight increase from 67,000 the year before. Meanwhile, Macy's said it would fill 85,000 seasonal positions last year, also about the same as the previous year.
Neither Macy's nor Kohl's have released their forecasts for the looming season, but a forecast Monday from Minneapolis-based Target indicated the company would hire 70,000 seasonal workers in its stores over the next three months.
Despite the merchant's best efforts to dazzle shoppers with flashy product presentations and in-store promotions, Target, like many big-box retailers, has struggled to compete with e-commerce giants Amazon and Wal-Mart, which allow shoppers to purchases items on their Christmas lists without ever entering a store.
Last month, company executives blamed fewer shoppers in stores for declining sales and profits in the second quarter, and its lowered sales expectations for the Christmas season, which can account for as much as 30 percent of some retailers' sales.
As retailers continue to shift their focus online, e-commerce merchants are scrambling to fill positions at warehouses and distribution centers, while transportation companies United Parcel Service and FedEx are also stepping up hiring to meet package delivery demands.
Last year, the National Retail Federation said more than 46 percent of Christmas shopping was done online -- the highest rate since the trade association began tracking such figures in 2006.
As a result, Amazon created more than 100,000 seasonal jobs to deal with increased demand -- a 25 percent increase from the previous year.
While Amazon has yet to announce its hiring goals this year, the company has already said it will augment its workforce with new $10-an-hour, remote customer service associate positions "to swiftly respond to spikes in customer need."
Business on 09/14/2016