Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

2024 holiday shopping season will beat 2023, Motive says

Firm forecasts that strong consumer trends and rising Mexico imports will also float U.S. trucking sector to end its 2-year freight recession by November.

motive Screenshot 2024-08-26 at 1.16.01 PM.png

The holiday shopping season in 2024 will be a stronger than last year, with higher sales and earlier shopping than 2023, according to an economic report from Motive, a California firm that offers fleet and spend management tools.

Motive drew that conclusion as retailers are preparing for strong Q4 sales, with grocery and superstore warehouse visits surpassing 2021 levels, and department stores, apparel, and electronics jumping over 30% year-over-year. That assessment comes from the firm’s “Motive Monthly Economic Report – August 2024.”


That foundational economic strength will also impact global trade trends, as 2024 is on pace to be a record year for Mexican imports to the U.S., with Mexico establishing itself as the United States’ top importer until at least 2030. In May alone, Mexico imports continued at its all-time high as 675,000 trucks brought a total of $32.5 billion in goods into the U.S.

The same trend held true over the longer term, as Mexico has now imported more goods than Canada by truck for the last 22 months consecutively. With Chinese imports down 19.9% year-over-year since May 2022, it’s clearer than ever that U.S. companies are adopting nearshoring from Mexico as their primary resourcing strategy, Motive said.

Those healthy freight flows will soon help push the beleaguered trucking market to hit net-positive growth by November, ending nearly two consecutive years of losses, the report said. Motive creates its monthly economic report by using aggregated and anonymized insights from the Motive network and from publicly available government data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, U.S. Census, and U.S. Department of Transportation.

Another data point was that June saw one of the strongest month-over-month jumps to date for retailer restocking, according to Motive’s Big Box Retail Index. The metric, which tracks visits to warehouses of the top 50 U.S. retailers, jumped 10.8% since May, and 16% year-over-year. While these rates typically rise in summer months, this year’s surge indicates retailers are expecting bigger summer sales than last year and will likely report record sales for the month of July, which featured competing promotions from large retailers, like Amazon Prime Day.


 

 

The Latest

More Stories

frigo-trans truck hauling healthcare cargo

UPS acquires two German healthcare logistics specialists

Parcel carrier and logistics provider UPS Inc. has acquired the German company Frigo-Trans and its sister company BPL, which provide complex healthcare logistics solutions across Europe, the Atlanta-based firm said this week.

According to UPS, the move extends its UPS Healthcare division’s ability to offer end-to-end capabilities for its customers, who increasingly need temperature-controlled and time-critical logistics solutions globally.

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

screenshot of map of shipping risks

Overhaul lands $55 million backing for risk management tools

The supply chain risk management firm Overhaul has landed $55 million in backing, saying the financing will fuel its advancements in artificial intelligence and support its strategic acquisition roadmap.

The equity funding round comes from the private equity firm Springcoast Partners, with follow-on participation from existing investors Edison Partners and Americo. As part of the investment, Springcoast’s Chris Dederick and Holger Staude will join Overhaul’s board of directors.

Keep ReadingShow less
Report: Five trends in AI and data science for 2025

Report: Five trends in AI and data science for 2025

Artificial intelligence (AI) and data science were hot business topics in 2024 and will remain on the front burner in 2025, according to recent research published in AI in Action, a series of technology-focused columns in the MIT Sloan Management Review.

In Five Trends in AI and Data Science for 2025, researchers Tom Davenport and Randy Bean outline ways in which AI and our data-driven culture will continue to shape the business landscape in the coming year. The information comes from a range of recent AI-focused research projects, including the 2025 AI & Data Leadership Executive Benchmark Survey, an annual survey of data, analytics, and AI executives conducted by Bean’s educational firm, Data & AI Leadership Exchange.

Keep ReadingShow less
aerial photo of port of miami

East and Gulf coast strike averted with 11th-hour agreement

Shippers today are praising an 11th-hour contract agreement that has averted the threat of a strike by dockworkers at East and Gulf coast ports that could have frozen container imports and exports as soon as January 16.

The agreement came late last night between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) representing some 45,000 workers and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) that includes the operators of port facilities up and down the coast.

Keep ReadingShow less
worker using sensors on rooftop infrastructure

Sick and Endress+Hauser say joint venture will enable decarbonization

The German sensor technology provider Sick GmbH has launched a joint venture with the Swiss measurement technology specialist Endress+Hauser to produce and market a new set of process automation solutions for enabling decarbonization.

Under terms of the deal, Sick and Endress+Hauser will each hold 50% of a joint venture called "Endress+Hauser SICK GmbH+Co. KG," which will strengthen the development and production of analyzer and gas flow meter technologies. According to Sick, its gas flow meters make it possible to switch to low-emission and non-fossil energy sources, for example, and the process analyzers allow reliable monitoring of emissions.

Keep ReadingShow less