Christine Benz, founder of the KB Advisory Group, discussed November’s retail numbers and its vision for the customer.
NEW YORK – After shoppers put their final Christmas gifts under a tree, U.S. retailers are scrambling for a record-setting flood of gifts returned during a fatal boom in coronavirus cases.
To make the process more efficient, retailers, including Walmart Inc. and Target Corp., allow shoppers to drop unwanted gifts on FedEx or United Parcel Service drop-sites.
Others, including Best Buy, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Nordstrom, are offering curbside returns for the first time as efforts to stem the spread of COVID-19 have shut down stores or reduced customer numbers inside.
This year the returns are to inflate. Shoppers who want to avoid infection have moved from stores to online – where return rates are historically higher. Retailers are also under pressure to make the process as unified as possible for shoppers who want to retain long-term customers as well as long-term customers for packaged UPS and FedEx.
On Wednesday, December 23, 2020, a customer is shown an exchange and return counter at the Target Department store in Glendale, Colo. (AP Photo / David Zalubowski)
Online shopping for retailers, but not returned: report
Some shopping malls are also moving to make returns easier for their tenants. Mall America F America and Simon Property Group have both partnered with return management provider Narvar to eliminate the need for shoppers to print return labels to drop packages.
The National Retail Federation expects 2020 holiday sales to jump 5.2% from last year to $ 766.7 billion. About 13% of merchandise or about 10 101 billion worth of goods sold during the 2020 holiday season will return, the trade group said.
Opt-in stores, which help retailers resell, resell and dispose of merchandise, further increase the number. It predicts that by 2020 the U.S. Holiday returns will be 115 billion between Thanksgiving and the end of January. It is up 15% from the 2019 forecast released by Pay, which counts UPS and home-equipped retailer IKEA among its investors.
The in-store apparel return rate is 5–8%, while 30line runs about 0%, said Rob Zomoke, global operations chief at Inmer Intelligence, which processes approximately 100,000 million retail and e-commerce returns annually.
Last-minute shoppers wear face masks as they search for a Christmas Eve deal at Park Meadows Mall on Thursday, December 24, 2020 in Lone Tree, Colo. (AP Photo / David Zalubowski)
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“There has been a significant increase in returns from that math,” Zomok said, adding that apparel returns are at record highs.
“When your purchase is 100% online, you are ordering a few more (items) with the intention of returning,” said Shriram Sridhar, chief executive of LateShipment.com, which helps customers track packages.
“We expect each retailer to experience about 0% more returns than they have faced during the holiday season in previous years,” Sridhar said.
In addition, retailers also quarantine or sanitize products after they are returned to ensure they are virus-free.
| Ticker | Security | The last | Change | Change% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BBY | Excellent purchase | Is 102.55 | +0.21 | + 0.21% |
| D.K.S. | Dix Sports | Held at 55.59 | -0.21 | -0.38% |
| JWN | Nordstrom | 30.34 | -0.55 | -1.78% |
| SPG | Simon Property Group INC. | 84.37 | +0.72 | + 0.86% |
| K.S.S. | Kohna Corp. | 38.91 | -0.82 | -2.06% |
| AMZN | AMAZON.COM INC. | Held at 3,172.69 | -12.58 | -0.39% |
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“This is not a normal way of processing returns,” said Paula Rosenblum, managing partner at retail research firm RSR Research. Kohl, which collects Amazon.com returns and sends them back to e-teller in bulk, has extended its deadline for premium electronics.
It connects with retailers including Walmart, Macy’s and Amazon, giving shoppers more time to return purchases – a move that makes it difficult to resell seasonal trades. It’s important to turn those products into resale – especially for fast-fashion retailers that sell trendy apparel, Inmars Zomoke said.
“The window will get shorter,” Zomok said.
