Product Returns

Big-box retailers aren’t the only ones contending with reverse logistics challenges. Returns are an expensive headache for third-party online sellers as well. Vendors on Amazon.com, eBay, Walmart.com, and Wish.com must handle excessive e-commerce returns, as 20 percent of all online purchases are sent back. Online sellers must also contend with higher consumer expectations for a…

Retailers are working feverishly behind the scenes to optimize their e-commerce operations for the upcoming 2022 holiday shopping season. This year, retailers will face some of the same challenges they did during the 2021 holiday shopping season — with additional new challenges brought about by excess inventory, inflation and general volatility, uncertainty, chaos and ambiguity…

Almost everyone has made a purchase they weren’t happy with, but for some, the stress of returning an item just might not be worth their time, effort and frustration. There’s always someone who opts to keep that product instead of returning it, even though they’re unhappy with their purchase. In fact, studies show the frustration…

Returns are on the rise. A combination of rising prices and tighter budgets means that shoppers are returning items more often than they have in some time. It’s a swing of the pendulum as online shopping soared to meteoric heights during the pandemic, with e-commerce seeing a 31 percent increase in growth from 2019 to…

Returns have been hitting the headlines lately, with around 16 percent of all merchandise bought in 2021 returned by shoppers. In Europe we’ve seen retailers, including Zara, move from free online returns to charging consumers to send back items. Fast-fashion favorite Asos.com has also recently warned its revenues are being hit by rising costs and…

If there’s a way to make a few bucks on the side, pull a fast one, or game the system, you know there’s always someone prepared to try their luck. Even when retailers offer generous money-off promos or discounts, there’s always someone who wants more. So called "policy abuse" — i.e., when a retailer’s refund…

As more customers shop online, the cost of returns has increased alongside it. Fashion giant Zara became the latest retailer to introduce charges for shoppers who return items bought online, with other stores predicted to follow suit. Fast-fashion brand Boohoo also recently warned its revenue was unlikely to grow in the first half of the…

In an era when food, groceries, barns and ultimately anything is delivered on-demand to consumers' doorsteps, why are we just starting to see return pickup offered? Even major retailers like Amazon.com and Walmart have only started offering return pickup recently. It seems like a simple offering, but with weight and size restrictions, varying distances from…

Mother’s Day recently passed, and our data showed it garnered some of the lowest returns rates of the year thus far. Additionally, we found the value of Mother’s Day returns were significantly lower, about 25 percent less per item, than standard returns. Most gifts hovered around $20 or less. We're anticipating a similar scenario for…

European fashion brand Zara recently announced it will charge U.S. customers for returning online purchases to third-party drop-off points. According to Zara's website, U.S. customers who placed orders from June 1 onwards will be charged $3.95 to return online purchases to third-party drop-off points. The cost will be deducted from the refund amount. Customers can still…