Shopping is far from over after the Christmas holiday, this year especially. Shoppers are venturing out to make purchases through the end of December and early January. With this, they are also making returns – a lot of them. 92% of consumers said they would be shopping after the holidays this year, according to an article from Retail Dive. This is up from past predictions of 72%. Younger consumers, between the ages of 18 to 24, are 84% most likely to shop the week after Christmas, stated by the National Retail Federation.
Shoppers are taking advantage of sales that are continuing after the holidays and plan to use gift cards they received. Holiday promotions have been ongoing since October and will likely continue throughout the beginning of the new year. This was proven with Black Friday, where retailers started sales early and continued them throughout the season to avoid crowds. Black Friday became a month-long sales event instead of a one-day occasion.
Online selling has surged return rates off the charts this year. Returns are prevalent during every holiday season, due to late deliveries, bulk ordering and several other reasons. Typically, returns jump between 30-50% depending on the item. And, they play a key role in the hidden costs of e-commerce, predicting to cost companies nearly $5 billion this year alone. NRF has reported that 55% of consumers plan to return items within 30 days after receiving them. To help with e-commerce return logistics, the UPS-founded fulfillment network, Ware2Go, has recently partnered with Happy Returns, a one-stop solution that fixes online return issues with an in-store solution. Soon enough, other delivery services will be partnering with this company or ones similar to ease constraints that are often associated with e-commerce.“2020 is set to be the worst year on record for retailers with regards to return percentages,” LateShipment.com’s Sridhar said by email. “Every retailer is set to see returns that are 50% to 100% more than they have ever encountered in the past.”It’s up to retailers to use returns as a sales opportunity to promote additional purchases. Most consumers prefer to make returns in brick-and-mortar stores, and retailers can use this to their advantage, encouraging them to exchange the item instead of returning it. NRF noted that 74% said that they are likely to purchase something else while returning or exchanging an unwanted gift. Source: Returns after the Holidays – Retail Dive, National Retail Federation Holiday Shopping Survey Photo Credit: Pexels
