Holiday retail in 2025 didn’t just deliver—it exploded. The five-day shopping binge from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday redefined “peak season,” creating an order surge few fulfillment centers were truly prepared for. For companies operating distribution centers, warehouses, or e-commerce fulfillment, the result was a stress test. For those thinking ahead: a wake-up call.Here’s how the numbers break down: According to recent reporting from Adobe, U.S. online spending during the Thanksgiving-to-Cyber Monday stretch surged to $44.2 billion, including a record $14.25 billion on Cyber Monday alone. That’s a 7.7% increase over last year — surpassing pre-holiday forecasts.Meanwhile, Black Friday set new records. Consumers spent $11.8 billion online, making it one of the biggest single-day e-commerce events in U.S. history.Adobe’s broader 2025 holiday season forecast also projected that total U.S. online sales for November through December will surpass $253.4 billion, up 5.3% year-over-year.At the same time, in-store retail remains active. A recent report from retail analytics firm pass_by shows a modest 1.17% year-over-year increase in in-store visits for Black Friday 2025, signaling that physical retail is still part of the omnichannel mix.That kind of volume—online or omnichannel—exerts enormous pressure on distribution centers (DCs). For fulfillment operations, a record-setting season means tight shipping windows, higher throughput, more frequent replenishment, and an even steeper post-holiday returns surge.Put simply, if a DC isn’t engineered for this level of demand, critical processes will fail.What the Surge Means for DC OperationsThis year’s holiday surge pushed nearly every aspect of retail distribution and fulfillment to its limits. Throughput…
