Returns, clearance present post-Christmas upsell opportunities

Holiday shopping gave way to returns season after Christmas, as some people opted to send back the gifts that weren’t quite right.

This year, higher returns have been a trend throughout the holiday season, in part because higher prices due to 40-year-high inflation kept people extra conscious of spending choices.

Salesforce predicted a “returns tsunami,” based on early holiday results. In data released earlier this month, the Commerce Cloud provider projected that 13% – representing $1.4 billion – of online orders will be returned over the holidays, a 57% increase over 2021. In one particularly inflationary behavior, the company found that people were returning one product after finding a better deal on another.

Once gifts are opened, the post-Christmas period is the time when the most items are sent back. There are signs that direct-to-consumer brands are processing higher return volumes this week. Loop, which makes a returns management platform used by Shopify brands such as Allbirds, Chubbies and Brooklinen, saw a 33% increase over 2021. On Monday and Tuesday (12/26-27), the platform saw a record of more than 133,000 returns.

Returns are an inevitable part of retail, as not everything will be a fit once an item is brought home. That is especially true in ecommerce, where brands offer free return policies to provide flexibility to consumers who can’t touch and feel a product before they buy it.

Yet returns have also created logistics and profitability challenges for brands, so they are seeking ways to recoup sales.

One way to do this is to encourage customers to make an exchange rather than simply sending an item back. This holiday season, Loop saw its largest drop in refund rate, which measures how many items are simply sent back. From Q1-Q3 , 71% of returns were refunded. But over the holiday period, the refund rate was 60%.

Returns can also create an upsell moment, as a customer’s interaction with a brand provides an opportunity to peruse other products. On Dec. 26, Loop saw its largest-ever day of upsells from returns, and merchants using the platform made nearly $300,000 in sales from upsells since Christmas.

Returns will happen, so brands should make it count. Treat this post-purchase interaction as another place to build a relationship with a customer.

“Most returns do not happen because a customer dislikes their brand, but rather because they dislike a particular product. A return is a chance for brands to re-engage with customers and repair a broken promise, whether that be a damaged item or one that didn’t look as expected or didn’t fit, Loop SVP of Marketing Tasha Reasor told The Current. “Therefore, it’s important that brands invest in their returns experience, as this will not only save them time and money, but also drive revenue and foster brand loyalty.”