What percentage of items bought online are returned?

Data suggests that 20\% of online-bought products are returned, compared to just 9\% of items bought in a brick-and-mortar store. Let’s take a closer look at why that figure is so high.

What happens when you return an item?

In retail, a product return is the process of a customer taking previously purchased merchandise back to the retailer, and in turn receiving a refund in the original form of payment, exchange for another item (identical or different), or a store credit.

Do returns get thrown away?

Joel Rampoldt, a managing director at the consulting firm AlixPartners, told me that most people in the industry believe that about 25 percent of returns are discarded, although the proportion varies widely depending on the product (clothing tends to be easier to resell than electronics that may contain user data, for …

What is a good refund rate?

Stores should aim to maintain a Refund Rate below 5\%. The lower the Refund Rate, the better your store is performing and the more likely your products will gain exposure.

How much do companies lose from returns?

Many companies see customers’ product returns as a major inconvenience and an eroder of profits. After all, product returns cost manufacturers and retailers more than $100 billion per year, or an average loss per company of about 3.8\% in profit.

What is a good reason to return an item?

Some include people buying accessories for an item they broke. They may no longer use or need the product. Or an upgraded product is available, and they want to own that product instead. It can also happen because a customer was forced to move, change jobs or just downsize their personal life.

Do online returns get thrown out?

‘It’s pretty staggering’: Returned online purchases often sent to landfill, journalist’s research reveals. From unopened shampoo to unworn clothes, perfectly good products end up in dumpsters and landfill sites.