Making Financial Headlines · Page 6
Small Shops Discover the Holiday Gift That Keeps Charging for Delivery
· New York time
Small and medium-sized retailers are bracing for a difficult holiday season as high fuel prices push up shipping costs, CNBC reports. The festive package has acquired an extra accessory: a bill for getting it to the customer. For a retailer, delivery charges are part of the cost of making a sale. When those charges rise, the business faces choices about how much to absorb and how much to pass on. Either way, a higher shipping bill can complicate the economics of a season when stores hope to sell more. The pressure is especially clear for smaller businesses struggling to keep up with the increase. A customer sees a price at checkout, but the retailer must also account for the expense of moving the order. A promotion that looks generous on the website still has to survive its journey through the shipping ledger. The problem is not that retailers have forgotten how to wrap presents. It is that the trip after the wrapping has become more expensive. Holiday shopping may be built around the pleasure of giving, but the carrier's invoice is less sentimental. The bow can be cheerful. The shipping calculation insists on being precise.
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