While ecommerce grew during the pandemic, the rate of online returns grew even faster, surpassing the overall growth rate of online shopping by almost 3% in 2021. 2022 was the year retailers started looking for ways to dial up returns friction to claw back margins. In fact, online return rates decreased from 20.8% in 2021 to 16.5% in 2022 (NRF, 2022).

​The news is still bad though when you look at the return rates by merchant. During the past two years, 40% of retailers saw return rates go up by 10%, with another 10% seeing increases as high as 20% year over year (RIS News, 2022). It’s enough to make your head spin.

Bottomline, retailers need to offer more choices. Get a practical roadmap to help your business adapt.