Report Reveals Impact of Post-Holiday ‘Retail Vortex’

With the back-to-school shopping season reaching its peak, retailers are already prepping for the holiday season. To help inform retail strategies, DynamicAction crunched data from last year and in a “deep industry analysis,” revealed “the mounting pressures of post-Christmas consumer behavior.” Due to several factors, retailers are “at risk of falling into a ‘Retail Vortex’ of increased costs, soaring returns and inventory concerns in [the first quarter], impacting important seasonal profits.” Researchers at DynamicAction, which is a retail analytics guidance platform, said the concerns facing retailers and brands this year include earlier and a higher number of returns. They noted that holiday returns begin on Dec. 25. Last season, the number of returns were 31 percent higher on a year-over-year basis — and this year could be even higher. The data also showed a 5 percent increase in marketing expenditures year-over-year as well as an increase in “free shipping” offers. Meanwhile, average order values have declined, all of which has a negative impact on sales and margins. Authors of the report said a “strengthening yearly pattern that occurs between Christmas and mid-January,” — The “Retail Vortex” — was identified from more than $12.3 billion worth of online consumer transactions, globally. “The analysis revealed four

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