Depending on who you talk to, you’ll get different estimates and predications about the volume of returns made in the first week of January. One area where there is consensus though is that returns are becoming an increasingly important issue for the industry.
Last year it was labelled National Returns Day, this year the name Mail Back Monday has also been deployed … it being that day during the first week in January that sees the greatest returns volume.
According to ParcelHero, “In the period after Christmas returns jump by 81% compared to their normal levels,” with “65% of consumers are expecting to return items bought online this year, compared to 51% just three years ago.”
Royal Mail predicted that on Monday 4 January, online returns would “jump by more than 50% in a single day, versus the average number of return parcels per day in December.” The returns specialist,Clear Returns, estimated that to be almost 1m items returned on Monday of this week alone.
“We’ve seen unprecedented levels of online shopping over the Christmas period , with internet spend dominating how consumers made their gift purchases for many retailers. However, with online shopping in particular, consumers buy first and choose later,” said Vicky Brock, CEO of Clear Returns.
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