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The retail sector expects that by the end of this season it will have been returned between % and until 36% of total sales that are made during Christmas and New Year, according to an analysis by the company Inmar Intelligence.
That data translates to billions of dollars for retailers expecting a very active Christmas sales season, following the record spending data shown on Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
However, the ghost of returns haunts the season and with the experience of 2022, in which 15% of all sales for the season were returned, equivalent to $761,11 million dollars, according to the National Federation Retailers, the stores have been shielded.
And that shielding means nothing more than the tightening of return policies for consumers, who should be much more proactive and selective not only when buying, but also when making the decision to return an item.
According to logistics company goTRG, at least six out of ten retailers changed their return policies for this year’s shopping season.
New rules due to higher costs
According to the company, the main changes have to do with reductions in the time to return a purchase and in l the disappearance of the free return and refund policies.
This means that the return policies that emerged during the pandemic, widely you benefit consumers with free shipping and returns, are disappearing due to the high costs that they promote for retailers.
“During the pandemic, people were given some really generous return policies,” recalled Erin Halka, retail strategist at firm Blue Yonder, in a report for USA Today.
According to an average calculation, each return costs around $15 dollars to a retailer; amount to which other costs such as shipping, processing, labor and resale process must still be added.
“If a retailer has been offering free shipping and returns, that’s a big cost on that good that the retailer is consuming”, acknowledged Thomas Borders, general manager of the Product Life Cycle Cloud at Inmar Intelligence.
What changes for consumers
Away from some stores like Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic, who decided to extend your return policy to 45 days during the holiday season, the new rule is that the times for return a product are reduced.
The return windows may vary according to each store; however, the almost general new norm is that they have 30 days from the moment of purchase to make the return.
Another change that is already a reality in many retailers is that returns of products that have been purchased online will have a cost for buyers.
This means that the free return policy is being terminated and stores are turning to transferring the cost of the shipping to consumers.
At least 30% of 300 retailers surveyed this year said they will not offer free returns, this data has doubled since the Christmas season of 2022, according to the signed by Inmar Intelligence.
For the s retailers that are not directly charging shipping for a return, are opting to do so in the refund they are required to make for a returned item.
When it comes to refunds, another trend that will be seen throughout the season is that more and more stores are offering refunds in same store credits , with which they seek that the return is not a loss to 300.
Meanwhile, experts recommend consumers read return policies before buying a product as a gift or for themselves.
Also not leave a lot of time to decide if they want to keep a gift or are going to look to exchange it and, finally, if possible, take the product to a physical store, it may be faster and less expensive to do it this way.
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