Quarter of online Christmas gifts are returned in UK - report

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jan 7, 2019

A large number of trading updates are due this week, but online and omnichannel retailers can’t judge the success (or otherwise) of their Christmas season just yet.

That’s because as many as one in four gifts bought online for the festive season will be returned by UK consumers. 

The London-based Centre for Economics and Business Research said a quarter of items bought from web stores between Black Friday at the end of November and the day after Christmas will find their way back to the vendor at some point, which adds up to around £4.8 billion out of the £19 billion online total, The Times reported.

The very high rate of returns could mean a huge amount of inventory being marked down this month and next. But it isn’t only a problem for individual retailers as official statisticians and other groups that track retail sales figures will also be unable to get a clear view of just how good or bad the online Christmas shopping season was.

And as online growth continues to outpace that in physical stores, the distortion could increase in the years to come.

E-tailers are making it easier than ever to return e-purchases and consumer protection for goods bought remotely is quite strong. But even if that wasn’t the case, online items are always more likely to be returned than those the shopper had a chance to touch, feel and try on first.

That’s particularly the case for fashion items bought online and especially so as clothing, shoes and accessories are among the biggest categories for shoppers to buy online.