Online sales higher for Black Friday and Cyber Monday than ever before for local store

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – COVID-19 has impacted nearly every aspect of our lives and Cyber Monday deliveries are also seeing the impact.

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it is a hectic time for retailers and people are ordering online more now than ever before.

You may have found yourself browsing online stores more recently than in previous years.

You aren’t alone.

Delivery services are seeing an unprecedented number of deliveries this year compared to previous years and COVID is likely to blame, according to Susan Wright with the United States Postal Services.

“Our package volumes have been at an all time high all year long, mostly due to COVID. But, for the past several years, we’ve seen increased package volumes just as customers become more used to shopping online. So we expect that to continue this year and we are certainly prepared,” said Wright.

In fact, USPS has just started delivering on Sundays and will continue to do so throughout the rest of the year to fulfill the needs of their customers.

Pink Lily, a national online store created and based in Bowling Green, has seen nearly double their Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales compared to last year.

The founder and CEO of the online store, Tori Gerbig, said the company’s only brick and mortar location, in Bowling Green, has seen much less business, while the online store has been a big hit.

“Store fronts are not getting that traffic in the door due to the pandemic. It’s much easier for customers to sit at home, open up their laptop or their phone, and to shop. So, while the retail store may be down overall, our sales are way up due to the amount of people that are shopping online,” said Gerbig.

Most of these online orders nationwide are shipped out via the postal service, UPS or FedEx.

The post office encourages the public to mail things a little earlier this year to ensure that your packages and mail arrive on time.

UPS declined an on camera interview but assured said they have 20 new facilities and 14 additional aircraft for the season and have also expanded their weekend operations to better serve their customers.