Product Returns

Between rapid technology evolution’s effect on sales and smaller businesses stuck hiding behind the shadows of e-commerce giants, retailers are grappling with a great deal of uncertainty. Even in the best of retail sales and revenue growth, product returns are expected to have accounted for 30 percent of the 2018 retail economy — an estimated $37 billion. So,…

A survey by the National Retail Federation in 2018 showed that retailers reported a median return rate of 10 percent. This equates to $369 billion in sales that were made and then lost. Legitimate returns are expensive for retailers — labor, overhead, and opportunity costs all impact performance. Added to these necessary returns, return fraud…

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In 2018, nearly $369 billion in retail sales were lost to returns. In addition, return fraud and return abuse has increased. Nationwide, return fraud costs U.S. retailers $18.4 billion, and when return abuse (e.g., wardrobing/renting) is factored in, the value rises to $24 billion. To put that in perspective, return fraud and abuse costs retailers $5 to $6.50 for every $100 returned. Appriss Retail's 2018 Consumer Returns in the Retail Industry report expands on the information and can be downloaded free.

UPS predicts an early spike in product returns this holiday season. The parcel carrier expects 1.5 million packages to be returned today (Dec. 19), ahead of the Christmas holiday, reports CNBC. In previous years, returns have spiked at the beginning of the new year, with Jan. 3 usually the busiest day for returns. UPS credits…

Online sales spiked during the 2017 holiday season, and according to projections from Deloitte, holiday e-commerce spend in 2018 will rise 17 percent to 22 percent, breaking records once again. However, as sales continue to grow, so does a troubling new threat — the serial returner. Flexible return policies are no longer the exception, they're…

As the holiday season kicks off in full force, retailers are preparing for the influx of purchases that are sure to accompany the gift-giving season. While sales increase during holiday crunch time, processing an originating transaction doesn't mean the lifecycle of the sale is over. Regardless of why someone decides to take a gift back,…

Walmart is expanding two-day shipping and in-store returns to many items sold by third parties on its website next month, just ahead of the busy holiday shopping season. For the past two years, Walmart has offered free two-day shipping on millions of items on its site without a membership fee, on orders of $35 or more.…

Try this on for size: In 2017, there were $351 billion worth of returns in the United States retail market. Putting this figure in perspective, were that dollar value the revenue of a retailer, it would be the second largest behind Walmart (Walmart is at $363 billion, with the second-place retailer, Kroger, at $110 billion…

Delivery and returns can have a strong influence on consumers’ online purchasing decisions as well as their overall impressions of a retailer. Therefore, it’s essential for businesses to consider the full, end-to-end experience that consumers encounter when shopping online. Staying competitive in today’s e-commerce environment requires that retailers meet consumers’ high expectations for transparency, ease…