Accessories Magazine, leading women’s trade publication, has featured DynamicAction’s Holiday Retail Index as a key source for their Hitting the Margins piece that just ran in the Jan/Feb 2016 issue. The story focuses on the critical element of strategic planning in order for retailers not to be caught off guard by extra markdowns and high promotions. Showcasing our graph in the opener the story goes on to closely site our Holiday Retail Benchmarks and utilize our CEO, John Squire, as a main source throughout.
Please see below for excerpts from the article:
“Retailers are finding themselves trapped in the cycle of promotions and markdowns, and are more discount-heavy as we head into the 2015 holiday season,” said John Squire, CEO of DynamicAction. “Although these promotions are great for consumers’ wallets, the full price sell-through rate and retail profitability are suffering, which will have a negative impact on the ill-prepared retailers and the economy if the trend continues throughout this holiday season.”
Another sleeper: DynamicAction found returns were already up 9.3% over 2014 heading into the holidays. "Even worse, the amount of profit being returned has jumped 19%, suggesting that customers are returning the more profitable items at a higher rate," Squire said.
Moreover, it has a lingering effect. "Return rates clearly spike in the days after Christmas, but retailers also must prepare for the second week in January, and the steady stream of returns and resale happening through mid-February," he added.
"Retailers faced a steeper uphill battle during holiday season, but retailers and brands can use this data to make smart, actionable decisions while finalizing promotional and pricing strategies.”
