尽管冠状病毒病例激增，包括新的、具有高度传染性的 Omicron 变体，但美国零售商周六仍向他们敞开大门，他们希望成群结队的购物者会在最后一刻寻找节日礼物。
圣诞节前的最后一个星期六 - 被称为“超级星期六” - 通常是一年中最繁忙的购物日之一，其特点是急于购买最后一分钟的礼物以藏在圣诞树下。
然而，今年购物者面临的风险不仅在于商品可能缺货，还在于亲自购物可能引发更多的冠状病毒感染——使超级星期六成为超级传播者的事件。
玩具店老板凯瑟琳·阮 (Katherine Nguyen) 表示，与 2020 年圣诞节前的最后一个星期六，甚至 2019 年大流行前圣诞节前的最后一个星期六相比，她预计会有更多人亲自到她位于芝加哥地区的三个地点购物。
“就好像新的变种是新的常态——环境已经有点习惯了，”她说。
人流量跟踪公司 Placer.ai 表示，预计本周末到店购物的人数将比去年同期多。衡量商店访问量的数据公司 Sensormatic Solutions 指出，感恩节后的星期五人流量比一年前增加了近 48%，表明人们愿意亲自购物。
供应链的僵局让许多人也因为无法在 12 月 25 日假期前及时在线订购商品而感到紧张。
俄亥俄州哥伦布市的 Nationwide 首席经济学家戴维·伯森 (David Berson) 表示：“消费者受到有关供应短缺对节日礼物供应的影响的消息的轰炸。”
Nguyen 说，她的三个商店从未收到过大约 15% 的玩具目录的商品。她说，这些玩具“坐在加利福尼亚长滩的一个容器上，在水外等着进来。”
联邦快递和美国邮政局将 12 月 15 日定为圣诞节前送货上门的最后期限，这意味着仍在寻找礼物的购物者如果想避免加急费用，可能别无选择，只能在商店购物。运输。
联邦快递和竞争对手联合包裹服务公司均表示，他们雇佣了足够多的员工来应对假期高峰期，因为他们每天处理的包裹数量翻了一番。
与去年不同的是，许多消费者听从了零售商的建议，提早购物——通过在更长的时间内分散需求来缓解运营商的压力。但据咨询公司 Logistics Trends & Insights 总裁凯茜·莫罗·罗伯森 (Cathy Morrow Roberson) 称，随着圣诞节的临近，网上购物者可能会看到更多的延迟。
'Super Saturday' set to lure last-minute shoppers in US despite Omicron surge
U.S. retailers opened their doors on Saturday to what they hope will be swarms of shoppers searching for last-minute holiday gifts, despite surging cases of the coronavirus, including the new, highly-contagious Omicron variant.
The last Saturday before Christmas -- dubbed 'Super Saturday' -- is typically one of the busiest shopping days of the year, marked by a rush to buy last-minute gifts to tuck under the Christmas tree.
The risks to shoppers this year, however, are not just that merchandise might be out of stock, but also that in-person shopping could trigger more coronavirus infections -- making Super Saturday a super-spreader event.
Toy store owner Katherine Nguyen says she anticipates more people to shop in person at her three Chicago-area locations compared to the last Saturday before Christmas 2020, or even the last Saturday before the pre-pandemic Christmas of 2019.
"It's like the new variant is the new normal -- the environment has gotten a little used to that," she said.
Foot-traffic tracking firm Placer.ai said it expects more people to visit stores this weekend than on the same weekend last year. Sensormatic Solutions, a data firm that measures store visits, cited a nearly 48% increase in foot traffic on the Friday after Thanksgiving compared to a year earlier as a sign that people would want to shop in-person.
A supply chain logjam has left many people also feeling nervous about not getting merchandise ordered online in time for the Dec. 25 holiday.
"Consumers have been bombarded with messages about the impact of supply shortages on the availability of holiday gifts," said David Berson, chief economist at Nationwide in Columbus, Ohio.
Nguyen said her three stores never received shipments of merchandise for about 15% of their toy catalog. The toys, she says, are "sitting on a container in Long Beach, California, outside of the water waiting to come in."
FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service set Dec. 15 as the deadline for ground deliveries to reach homes in time for Christmas, which means that shoppers still in search of gifts may have little choice but to shop in stores if they want to avoid fees for expedited shipping.
FedEx and rival United Parcel Service each say they have hired enough workers to manage the holiday peak, when the number of daily packages they handle easily doubles.
Unlike last year, many consumers heeded advice from retailers to shop early - easing pressure on carriers by spreading demand over a longer period of time. But online shoppers may see more delays as Christmas approaches, according to Cathy Morrow Roberson, president of consultancy Logistics Trends & Insights.
