Online Returns Will Cost U.S. Retailers $550 Billion By 2020

Are you addicted to online returns? As a former returns junkie myself, let me explain what it looks like. A decade ago, while I was supposed to be finishing up my dissertation, I procrastinated by shopping online. When I needed a break from my work, I would browse on Zappos, even though I didn’t need a new pair of shoes. If I spotted a pair I liked, I might order it in a few sizes to see which one fit best. When they arrived the next day, I would have fun trying them on in my living room. In the end, I often decided not to go through with the purchase, I would enjoy neatly packaging everything back up, then sending it back in the mail. Little did I know that there’s a term for this behavior. In the industry, this notion of buying multiple variations of a product with the intent of returning most of them is called “bracketing.” And the truth is that people who “bracket” frequently tend to drive more than their fair share of online returns. Narvar, a platform that helps brands share shipping information with customers, says in its new annual report that “a small percent of shoppers comprise a disproportionate percent of returns.” A full 38% of customers Narvar surveyed don’t replace or exchange items they return, suggesting they did not need that item but were simply checking it out. Read more at Fast Company.