Now comes the great deluge of unwanted gifts. After spending the entire year getting shoppers to buy as much as possible for the holidays, retailers will spend the next week or so taking back tens of billions of dollars’ worth of presents.
The returns counter may be the most unloved place in American retail, for shoppers and store owners alike. But retailers are learning to kick the supply chain into reverse gear, making it as easy to return that oversized sweater or awkward mittens from your mother-in-law as it was to get them to her.
Mindful that many shoppers who return gifts end up making additional purchases at the store, retailers have learned to “embrace and solve” this always unpleasant task, said Larisa Summers, a senior vice president at Optoro, which helps to manage returns for big retailers such as Target.