December 9 to be “biggest” returns day

This Monday, December 9 will mark the biggest returns day for UK retailers as buyer’s remorse kicks in, with returns registered online expected to be 140 percent higher than an average weekday, according to new data by global returns management platform, ReBound Returns.

Dubbed ‘Make Up Your Mind Monday’, falling in the middle of the festive shopping, ReBound Returns insight reveals that many shoppers are buying first and choosing later, as they took advantage of sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

The data, taken from their work with more than 500 retailers and brands, highlights that customers have already started the returns process, with return activity on Cyber Monday (December 2) being nearly twice as high as an average weekday, up 96 percent, while return activity on Tuesday, December 3 was 116 percent higher than average.

This spike in returns activity is set to continue well into the new year, added ReBound Returns with 85 percent more returns predicted in January compared to the average month of the year.

The data reveals that UK online retail faces 2.6 billion pounds worth of returns disruption over the festive peak as huge spikes in sales leads to a massive increase in returns. This is an additional 300 million pounds compared to the festive returns disruption faced by UK retail in 2018.

This includes the cost of receiving, processing and refunding each return, as well as the losses accrued by reselling items at discounted rates in January.

Graham Best, ReBound Returns chief executive said in a statement: “Spotting return registrations early is the canary in the mine for retailers and this data warns that they’re about to receive a flood of items following huge Black Friday selling sprees. However, from our data we expect retailers will be grappling with high return rates well into the New Year.

“Brands need to be more aware of the value of the stock being sent back to them, but the intense focus on festive selling means they often only open returned parcels in their warehouse in January, by which time they’ll likely be reselling the stock at discounted New Year rates.”