The Christmas period has proved costly for suppliers as they wait for a $110 billion (£86 billion) bill after manufacturing, delivering and selling millions of gifts.
According to Centre for Economics and Business Research and working capital finance provider Greensill, the invoice is a year-on-year increase of 18 per cent and is a result of suppliers receiving a late pay.
The research found that consumer electronics will once again be the gift category generating the most invoices in the supply chain, with a massive $39.7 billion (£30.7 billion) of accounts receivable forecast for the 2018 Christmas season. This is a 16.9 per cent year-on-year increase.
However, the biggest increase was in clothing, where accounts receivable outstanding are forecast to grow 19 per cent year-on-year to $22.8 billion (£18 billion).
Meanwhile, accounts receivable outstanding associated with toys are forecast at $2.4 billion (£2 billion) this holiday season, an increase of 16 per cent year-on-year.
“We analyse the Christmas holiday supply chain in this way as it gives us a really good look under the hood of the global economy, revealing the finely tuned engine that every business on earth relies upon to run efficiently,” Greensill chief executive Lex Greensill said.
“Greensill uses technology to level the playing field for all businesses in the supply chain, to give them access to cash at rates that until now have been available only to giant corporates.
“[We call] this process the democratisation of capital – making affordable cash easily available to all businesses.”
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