“Back Friday” peak

CollectPlus has predicted that today (1 December) – dubbed ‘Back Friday’ – will see a peak in returns as shoppers send back the online bargains purchased during this year’s ‘Black Friday’ and ‘Cyber Monday’ sales.

Comparing returns volumes over the cyber weekend in 2015 to 2016, CollectPlus reported an 18% increase in parcel return volumes following the cyber shopping weekend. And CollectPlus expects to see a further increase in returns this year.

Neil Ashworth, CEO of CollectPlus, said: “As an increasing number of shoppers head online to take advantage of the phenomenal deals up for grabs not only on Black Friday, but over the entire Cyber Weekend, we expect to see a peak in unwanted items being returned this Friday, or ‘Back Friday’ as we’re calling it.

“We’ve seen retailers work tirelessly across the entire supply chain to plan effectively for the fulfilment of orders made on Black Friday. With the volume of items being sent back it’s important that they have a robust strategy in place to deal with returns in the same way. Shoppers expect to be quickly and easily reimbursed for online shopping and any delays in the process can lead to delays in repurchase.”