Retailers are overly reliant on using promotions to close sales and are facing big challenges converting first-time buyers into repeat customers. These rather grim data points from the first eight months of 2016 forecast a rocky road for retail heading into holiday 2016. Orders using promotions are up 85% year-over-year (YoY), with a 65% increase in North America for the quarter ending Aug. 29, 2016. Retailers’ ability to lure back first-time buyers for a subsequent purchase is down 7% YoY and 12% for the quarter worldwide, while new customer orders are down 9% YoY and 11% for the quarter, according to this infographic from DynamicAction.
All is not Scrooge-like gloom, however. One bright spot is that retailers are doing better matching their inventory with consumers’ desires: the items customers are viewing are in-stock 5% more often in 2016 compared to the previous year. Retailers, particularly those in Europe, are also increasing the profitability of each customer visit to their sites: product profit per view is up 17% YoY, and it’s up 3% for the quarter compared to the same periods in 2015.
Source: Dynamic Action
