January 5th dubbed National Returns Day

Shipping giant UPS has dubbed January 5th National Returns Day, when customers return their unwanted gifts en masse back to retailers.

UPS expects to deliver 1.3 million packages in a single day with nearly 6 million returns in the first week of the year.

Retailers are responding to customer demand with improved customer service and experience options, however they can expect to lose 260 billion dollars in lost sales in the US.

“Online shoppers want the same level of choice, control and convenience making their returns as they do making their purchases,” said Teresa Finley, chief marketing officer for UPS. “UPS helps retailers provide shoppers with a satisfying returns experience while managing rising returns volume and the complexities of providing a seamless omnichannel shopping experience.”

According to the UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper study, online shoppers are seeing the improvements that retailers have made to returns programs over the last five years. Between 2012 and 2016, consumers consistently reported fewer issues paying for returns shipping (decreasing from 66 percent to 50 percent), paying restocking fees (decreasing from 43 percent to 27 percent), and experiencing a delay in receiving credits or refunds (decreasing from 41 to 27 percent).

70 percent of shoppers make an additional purchase when returning goods

“While returns can’t be eliminated, an easy to use returns experience should be one of several retail strategies to enhance customer loyalty and manage the cost of returns processing,”¹ continued Finley. According to the UPS study, 70 percent of online shoppers made an additional purchase when they returned an item to a store and 45 percent made an additional purchase when processing their return on the retailer’s website.

“Retailers are continuously improving their returns programs,” continued Finley. “The next great opportunity is to unlock the value of these returned products through a sophisticated reverse logistics program.” According to the National Retail Federation, merchandise returns cost U.S. retailers more than $260 Billion in lost sales.

Photo credit:UPS van