With the end of the holiday shopping season comes the inevitability of gift returns.
UPS has dubbed tomorrow, January 6, as National Returns Day. On this day, UPS expects that consumers will ship more than 800,000 packages back to retailers and merchants.
“We have successfully completed two of three phases of the peak holiday delivery season,” said Alan Gershenhorn, EVP and Chief Commercial Officer at UPS. “Our Cyber Weekend and pre-Christmas performance helped retailers take advantage of holiday demand. We are now preparing for a surge in volume driven by Returns Week, beginning Jan. 5, 2015.”
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In 2014, 62% of consumers said they returned an item they purchased online, compared to 51% in 2012, according to comScore research. The 2014 UPS Pulse Of The Online Shopper Study also indicated that the majority of shoppers (56%) prefer to ship their products back to where they came from, while the rest (44%) prefer to physically return the item to a store.
“As e-Commerce continues to grow, simple returns services have become an essential part of the overall consumer shopping experience,” Gershenhorn said. “Our research shows online shoppers care about returns convenience, with 66% reviewing a retailer’s return policy before making a purchase, and 68% said they would complete an online purchase if the retailer simply offered a free return shipping label.”
Retailers and delivery providers still have room to collaborate and simplify the returns process. Currently, 58% of online shoppers said they are satisfied with the overall ease of making returns and exchanges.
The survey also outlined the elements of optimal returns experiences, which include:
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Free return shipping (68% of shoppers);
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A hassle-free “no questions asked” return policy (58%);
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A return label included in the box (52%);
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An automatic refund to their debit or credit card upon return (48%); and
- An easy-to-print return label (44%).
