Online returns set to surge in New Year

Retailers set more online sales records this holiday season and that means UPS will be busy in early January.



UPS is projecting its highest volume for return activity will be Jan. 6 when the carrier expects consumers will ship more than 800,000 packages back to retailers and merchants. By the end of the first full week of January, return volume is expected to total roughly four million packages.



“We have successfully completed two of three phases of the peak holiday delivery season,” said Alan Gershenhorn, UPS executive vice president and chief commercial officer. “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 next Monday.”



Ease of returns – in addition to free shipping – has become a key influencing factor of consumer behavior on the digital path to purchase, according to UPS.



“Our research shows online shoppers care about returns convenience with 66 percent 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,” said Gershenhorn.



Not surprisingly, easy and free returns are key drivers of overall return volume which has increased dramatically the past few years along with overall sales volume. In 2014, 62 percent of shoppers returned a product they bought online, compared to 51 percent two years earlier, according to UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper Study.