Store returns rocket the week after Christmas

The week after everyone has opened their Christmas presents sees shop returns rocket by 81 percent, according to new research from Barclaycard.

The data from the UK’s leading payments business, which processes nearly half of all the country’s credit and debit card transactions, shows that purchases returned rises from 1.9 percent in an average week to 3.9 percent the week after Christmas.

Clothing and jewellery are the most returned items, with unwanted clothing, both throughout the year and after the festive period, accounting for 14.5 percent of purchases returned in between Christmas and the New Year, almost double the 7.6 percent average.

Barclaycard’s data shows that it’s women who return the most items after Christmas, making up 60 percent of all transactions, and that across the UK, those in Northern Ireland are most likely to return gifts, with 5.5 percent taking items back, followed by Scotland with 4.9 percent and the North East with 4.8 percent.

Val Soranno Keating, chief executive of Barclaycard said: “We all spend a lot of money, time and effort buying and wrapping Christmas gifts for family and friends, but our data shows that as a nation we could be better at picking the perfect presents.

“Though we might grin and bear it when opening them on Christmas Day, many of us are quick to join the ‘refund and exchange’ queue to swap an unwanted gift for something we actually want.”