Retailers have been focused on efforts to mitigate returns, as total returns for the industry amounted to $743 billion in merchandise in 2023. As a percentage of sales, the total return rate for 2023 was 14.5%.
According to the report, for every $1 billion in sales, the average retailer incurs $145 million in merchandise returns. Online sales do see a higher return rate, with 17.6% or $247 billion of merchandise purchased online returned. That compares to 10.02% for pure brick-and-mortar returns (excluding online orders that are returned in-store), or $371 billion.
NRF has partnered with Appriss Retail to pair their customers’ returns data with NRF survey responses. Appriss Retail’s customers include 60 of the top 100 retailers in the United States and allow greater granularity in the data. Given the change in methodology, unless otherwise noted, 2023 numbers cannot be compared to the 2022 returns report.
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