Some companies are looking at charging customers to return items in order to recoup on lost sales. But according to research from First Insight, three-quarters of shoppers would be deterred from buying from a retailer that charges for returns.
Peak season isn’t what it used to be.
For decades, retailers had an idea of what to expect around the holidays: a short but massive plateau in volume and supply chains that (for the most part) were expected to run smoothly.
When COVID-19 hit, it changed everything. Peak season got even longer, demand got even stronger and supply chains were thrown completely out of whack.
But even in the new normal of peak season, there will always be some nuances from year to year, and 2022 is no different.
One strategy retailers embraced in 2020 and 2021 was smoothing that sharp plateau of volume into more of a hill by using discounts and additional sales events to spread out demand.
This year, retailers have taken that approach to a new level. Amazon, for example, introduced what was essentially a second Prime Day sale a few months after its initial event as a way to capture some shoppers early and take them out of the mix down the line.
at Freight Waves.
