许多美国人周六在小商店购物，以支持夫妻店的服装、玩具、家具、体育用品、硬件和电子产品商店。
但今年的小型企业星期六促销不太可能改变美国独立商店的命运，这些商店与较大的竞争对手有着巨大的差异。
零售分析师和供应链专家表示，在当前的供应链危机、通胀上升和工人短缺的情况下，小型零售商在整个大流行期间被挤出市场，处于显着劣势。
首先，随着去年 Covid-19 的蔓延，许多小商店不符合“基本”业务的标准，不得不关闭。他们较大的竞争对手，如沃尔玛 (WMT)、塔吉特 (TGT)、好市多 (COST)、家得宝 (HD) 和其他公司能够保持营业。
随着小型零售商关闭，旅游和休闲支出停滞不前，这些大型连锁店蓬勃发展，因为美国人在居家期间囤积了杂货、家庭必需品、办公用品和家具。
与此同时，美联储估计，大流行导致大流行第一年倒闭的小企业比往年多约 20 万家。
随着独立商店在 2020 年下半年和 2021 年初重新开业，他们遇到了一系列新挑战：制造停工和材料短缺使产品更难获得并保持库存，运输和运输成本更高，以及雇用和留住工人的困难。
今年所有零售商都在努力解决这些问题。但专家表示，这些挑战对独立商店的打击更大。当短缺或延误出现时，夫妻店主通常在制造商和运输公司的优先级列表中最低。
例如，家得宝上周表示，一些供应有限的供应商告诉连锁店，他们将公司优先于其他供应商：“‘我们无法为这个行业服务，所以我们宁愿专注于最好的合作伙伴， ” 供应商称，家得宝首席运营官爱德华·德克尔上周在与分析师的电话会议上回忆道。
小型商店通常也缺乏财务灵活性来管理更高的成本并为客户压低价格，这与大型竞争对手不同，它们可以利用其规模和广泛的资源来吸收成本增加。
D.A. 零售分析师迈克尔贝克说：“与没有实力的小型零售商相比，大型零售商应该更有能力解决供应链问题，并拥有更好的库存。”戴维森上周在给客户的一份报告中。
大零售商与小零售商的差距
预计这个假期的销售额会激增，但随着购物者前往货架上有更多商品的更便宜的连锁店，小商店可能会错过机会。
行业贸易组织全国零售联合会预测，与 2020 年假日季相比，今年 11 月和 12 月的零售额将增长 8.5% 至 10.5%，达到创纪录的 8590 亿美元。
大型连锁店的库存在假期前激增，部分原因在于对大多数店主来说成本太高的策略——例如，从海外租船和空运产品到美国。大型零售商也一直依靠其广泛的供应商网络来缓解原材料短缺和工厂停工的问题。小商店通常只有少数供应商，因此如果其中一个出现问题，他们就会陷入困境。
这家零售巨头的首席运营官约翰·穆里根 (John Mulligan) 在上周的财报电话会议上表示，塔吉特在玩具和礼品等关键节日产品上“处于有利地位”。这将有助于 Target“在假期期间继续占据市场份额。”
零售巨头在这个假期期间全力以赴囤货，为顾客压低价格，并为商店和仓库提供员工。但独立商店正在努力跟上。
根据小企业游说团体全国独立企业联合会最近的一项调查，39% 的小企业主在 10 月份报告说，供应链中断对其业务产生了重大影响。另有 29% 的受访者表示有中等影响。只有 10% 的受访者表示没有受到供应链中断的影响。
NFIB 首席经济学家比尔·邓克尔伯格 (Bill Dunkelberg) 在一份声明中表示：“小企业主正试图利用当前的经济增长，但对近期的商业状况仍持悲观态度。”
他说，空缺职位缺乏工人和库存短缺是小企业面临的一些主要挑战，并将“在假期期间继续成为问题”。
这一切都意味着，到假期结束时，美国最大的商店和最小的商店之间的差距可能会进一步扩大。
These major chains boomed as small retailers had to close up shop
(CNN)Many Americans are shopping small Saturday to support mom-and-pop clothing, toy, furniture, sporting goods, hardware and electronics' stores.
But this year's Small Business Saturday promotion is unlikely to change the fortunes of independent shops in America, which have diverged dramatically from their larger rivals.
Small retailers have been squeezed out throughout the pandemic and are at a significant disadvantage navigating the current supply chain crisis, rising inflation and the shortage of workers, said retail analysts and supply chain experts.
First, as Covid-19 spread last year, many small shops did not meet the criteria of "essential" businesses and had to close down. Their larger competitors such as Walmart (WMT), Target (TGT), Costco (COST), Home Depot (HD) and others were able to stay open.
With smaller retailers closed and spending on travel and leisure at a standstill, these major chains boomed as Americans stocked up on groceries, household basics, office supplies and furniture during stay-at-home mandates.
Meanwhile, the pandemic caused roughly 200,000 more small businesses to close in the first year of the pandemic than in a typical year, the Federal Reserve estimated.
As independent shops began reopening in the second half of 2020 and early 2021, they met a new set of challenges: manufacturing shutdowns and material shortages that made it harder to get products and keep them in stock, higher costs for shipping and transportation, as well as difficulties hiring and retaining workers.
All retailers have grappled with these problems this year. But the challenges have hit independent stores harder, experts say. Mom-and-pop owners are typically lowest on the priority list for manufacturers and shipping companies when shortages or delays pop up.
Home Depot, for example, said last week that some vendors with limited supplies told the chain that they're giving the company priority over others: "'We can't service the industry, so we'd rather focus on the best partner," the suppliers said, Home Depot chief operating officer Edward Decker recalled on a call with analysts last week.
Small stores also usually lack the financial flexibility to manage higher costs and hold prices down for customers, unlike large competitors that can use their scale and extensive resources to absorb cost increases.
"Bigger retailers should be more able to navigate supply chain issues and have better in stocks than smaller retailers without the muscle," said Michael Baker, a retail analyst at D.A. Davidson, in a note to clients last week.
The gap between big and small retailers
Sales are expected to boom this holiday, but small stores may miss out as shoppers head to cheaper chains with more goods on their shelves.
Retail sales in November and December will grow between 8.5% and 10.5% this year compared with the 2020 holiday season, to a record of up to $859 billion, projects the National Retail Federation, an industry trade group.
Large chains' inventories have ballooned ahead of the holidays thanks in part to tactics that are way too costly for most shop owners — chartering ships and airfreighting products to the United States from overseas, for example. Big retailers have also been relying on their broad supplier networks to mitigate shortages of raw materials and factory shutdowns. Small stores typically only have a handful of suppliers, so if something goes wrong with one of them, they're stuck.
Target is "well positioned" on key holiday products such as toys and gifts, the retail giant's chief operating officer John Mulligan said on an earnings call last week. This will help Target "continue to take market share as we go through the holiday season."
Retail giants are pulling out all the stops this holiday stretch to stockpile goods, hold prices down for customers, and staff stores and warehouses. But independent stores are struggling to to keep up.
According to a recent survey by the National Federation of Independent Business, a lobbying group for small businesses, 39% of small business owners reported in October that supply chain disruptions have had a significant impact on their business. Another 29% reported a moderate impact. Only 10% reported no impact from supply chain disruptions.
"Small business owners are attempting to take advantage of current economic growth but remain pessimistic about business conditions in the near future," said NFIB chief economist Bill Dunkelberg in a statement.
The lack of workers for unfilled jobs and inventory shortages are some of the top challenges for small businesses, he said, and will "continue to be a problem during the holiday season."
It all means that, by the end of the holidays, it's likely that the gap between America's largest stores and its smallest will have stretched even further.
