Today Is National Returns Day, Second Spike Expected in Early January

Today, December 19th, is National Returns Day, when UPS expects to handle 1.5 million returns – a record for the sixth consecutive year.

Consumers who got a jump on online shopping in the days before Black Friday are expected to begin returning more than 1 million packages each day in December, jumpstarting the holiday returns season earlier than ever.

The spike is driven by self-gifting due to retailer promotions, express shipping for deliveries and returns, simplified returns processes and advanced re-stocking and management systems.

In past years, National Returns Day occurred in early January and represented the highest spike of packages for the entire year. Returns are still expected to hit 1.3 million packages on January 3, 2019, but this will now represent the second wave and be outpaced by December 19th returns of 1.5 million.

These returns are included in the 800 million packages UPS anticipates delivering this holiday season.

UPS’s Pulse of the Online Shopper study found that:

• 75% of consumers have shipped returns back to the retailer;
• 79% of e-commerce shoppers surveyed said free shipping on returns is important when selecting an online retailer;
• 44% said the top issue encountered when returning an item online is paying for return shipping; and
• Top elements of a great returns experience include an easy-to-return online experience and a no-questions-asked policy.

SOURCE: UPS Press Release

See this recent EcommerceBytes Update article for tips on handling holiday returns.

Ina Steiner

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com.