After a conversation with Women’s Wear Daily surrounding our latest Retail Index: Spring 2018, Executive Editor Arthur Zaczkiewicz penned a piece reporting on the industry insights we uncovered, including the free-shipping is the "new normal", rise of mobile, knee-jerk holiday promotions and mitigated returns in the first half of the year.

The retail index is an analysis of more than $8 billion in global online transactions. The latest report covered the first of the year through Memorial Day and included home goods, apparel and general merchandise.

Sarah Engel, chief marketing officer at DynamicAction, said the index showed that free shipping is the “new normal.”[mk_blockquote font_family="none"]“Orders using free shipping were up 6 percent thus far in 2018 [over 2017], with free shipping offers the new customer expectation during holiday-focused sales and promotions,” Engel said in the report. “Holiday 2017 free-shipping offers extended into January 2018, with an average 15 percent increase in free shipping in the first two weeks of January. Free shipping during Memorial Day shopping was also up an average 20 percent in North America.”[/mk_blockquote]Read the full article: Online Transaction Data Shows Demand for Free Shipping, Promotions

Retailers should contact DynamicAction for a customized review of the Spring 2018 Index data and how these benchmarks and new metrics apply to their business.