Kicking off coverage on the first official DynamicAction Retail Index for the 2018 holiday season, Bloomberg’s retail editor, Matthew Boyle, used DynamicAction metrics and directional findings as the cornerstone for his piece, Free Shipping Becomes a Blessing and Curse at Amazon and Target. The feature discusses the two retail giants' move to eliminate minimum purchase amounts for free shipping, thus sending the rest of the industry (minus Walmart) scrambling to match this added incentive. According to the DynamicAction Retail Index: Pre-Thanksgiving Outlook 2018, orders with the free shipping included have risen 13 percent so far this year through November 16, including an 18 percent spike in the week that began November 5, when Amazon unveiled its offer.

Key excerpts from Bloomberg include:

"'Free shipping is the new normal,' DynamicAction’s Chief Marketing Officer Sarah Engel said.

While free shipping can entice customers to buy, it can wreak havoc with retailers’ profit margins, which are typically razor-thin already during the holiday quarter due to rampant discounts and increased marketing costs. Web orders that included some sort of promotion since the end of October have risen 13 percent from the same period last year, DynamicAction found. It also doesn’t help that transportation costs were already soaring this year due to a shortage of truckers."

Read the full article here.

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