Holiday returns are up 16.2% YoY, Loop reports

It’s the thought that counts, and Uncle Larry certainly meant well when he gave you that set of throwing stars to defend yourself when the feds–it’ll happen any day now–impose martial law. Chances are, however, you returned them, and when you did so you were in good company.

Returns in the week following Christmas were up 16.2% over the same period a year ago, according to Loop, a returns management software company that works with retailers.

Loop based its calculations on merchants that used the platform for the past two holiday seasons:

• For the week following Christmas (December 26–January 2), returns on the platform totaled 451,376, up from 388,205 last year.
• The biggest day for returns was December 26, when Loop processed 127,983 returns.

You shouldn’t have: While retailers increasingly began charging for at least some types of returns last year, they remain the gift that keeps on giving returning.

• Returns in the US totaled $743 billion in 2023, representing 14.5% of all retail sales, according to data from the National Retail Federation and Appriss Retail cited by Digital Commerce 360.
• Processing can cost up to $20 per return—not including freight, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Logist-shticks: Much like a hurled throwing star, some returns are more painful than others. And Loop, which is in the business of making returns less onerous, also tracked how users of its platform mitigated the expense.

For example, instances of upselling, which in returns parlance means someone exchanging a product for a more expensive one, rose 20.8% in the week following Christmas 2023 compared to last year.

Instances of retailers telling customers to just keep items rather than send them back, which counterintuitively is often a money-saver for retailers compared to the logistical expense of returns, rose 38.9% for the period.

If that’s what happened when you went to return your uncle’s gift, you are, no doubt, counting your lucky stars.