Black Friday shoppers may be anxious to locate the best prices, but in their haste, they may overlook a potential pitfall: product returns.
According to a recent poll of 500 shops by return management service goTRG, six out of ten merchants are modifying their return policies this Christmas season. Sender Shamiss, CEO of goTRG, stated that these changes are generally not favorable to the consumer, as many stores have shortened the returns period and added restocking and online return fees.
Those who grew accustomed to retailers’ lenient return policies during the pandemic, when retailers loosened guidelines to give consumers more breathing room, may be surprised by these modifications. For example, Kohl’s and Bloomingdale’s increased their return periods by 30 and 90 days, respectively, in 2020.
However, a surplus of inventory and a faltering economy have prompted several merchants to tighten their regulations. Experts advise Black Friday customers to check the return policy before making a purchase to prevent unpleasant surprises.
“Now retailers are saying, ‘We’re not interested if customers will cause this insane returns nightmare that we can’t afford,'” Shamiss explained.
He noted that retail CEOs are worried about the health of the economy and are ensuring that their policies best serve their companies.
Reduced duration at Amazon
Amazon has announced that customers who purchased items between October 11 and December 25 will have until January 31, 2023 to return their purchases. This is a shorter window than last year, when buyers had until January 31, 2022 to return items purchased between October 1 and December 31, 2021.
Some retailers now charge customers for online returns, whereas they typically do not charge for items returned to physical stores. This can reduce costs for retailers while also enticing more customers to visit a store, where they may be tempted to purchase additional items.
“Changing the return policy is the low-hanging fruit,” Shamiss remarked. “As e-commerce matures, they are beginning to roll back these extremely liberal return policies.”
When a customer returns an item to H&M, for instance, a $5.99 return shipping fee is deducted from their refund. The retailer noted that this is not a new policy, but it may begin testing online return fees in some European markets.
This year, Zara began charging $3.95 for online returns, but it does not charge a fee when consumers return online purchases to a physical store.
During the pandemic, Shamiss said, “We grew accustomed to these absurdly lengthy return policies.” Nothing of that remains today.