Holiday Returns: By the Numbers

After weeks (or in some cases, months!) of holiday shopping, most consumers are getting ready to kick back and relax with an eggnog in hand and open their gifts. Sounds merry, right? Unfortunately, retailers still have a good chunk of their holiday work ahead of them: the not-so-beloved tradition of sorting through customer returns.

For shoppers, returning items continues to be easier than ever and even with updated return policies and restrictions, the amount of returns continues to grow: according to the NRF, about 17% of all goods purchased in 2024 will be returned, totaling $890 billion. That’s up from 15% in 2023.

Post-holiday returns make up a large portion of this number and the mountains of inventory coming back to brands and retailers this winter—particularly in early Q1—represents a major financial and logistical challenge. 

Returns by the Numbers

While “mountains of inventory” might sound dramatic, it’s not far from the truth. Here’s what brands and retailers will be dealing with this season: 

• 40% of consumers will return a gift
• Overall $170 billion worth of merchandise will be returned post-holiday
• Nearly half of that total will be from online purchases
• 25% of all returns take place around Christmastime
• If the package has been opened or a seal broken, the item will not go back on primary shelves

What Can B-Stock Tell You About Holiday Returns?

The cost of sorting, inspecting, repackaging, storing, transporting, and remarketing so many goods through primary sales channels can easily exceed their value—even for items in pristine condition. This is why the majority of items don’t go back on primary shelves.

Fifteen years’ worth of B2B resale data gives B-Stock a broad perspective on secondary market trends and allows us to deliver tailored, actionable insights to our customers, including today’s top retailers, brands, and OEMs. Here’s a quick dive into what the post-holiday data across our platform reveals:   

• The most common post-holiday returns include women’s trendy apparel, toys, specialty kitchen items, and tools
• The amount of ecommerce inventory increases by 36% following Christmas
• Overall inventory sold rises by 30% from January through March 
• The number of truckload-sized lots of customer returns doubles in January through March
• 77% of all merchandise sold on B-Stock is customer returns

How Can Brands & Retailers Respond?

The best way for businesses to clear congested warehouses while quickly turning this inventory to cash is to leverage a technology and data-backed B2B resale platform like B-Stock. Our platform provides: 

• Access to the right buyers interested in merchandise across all categories, quantities, and conditions.

• Flexible resale options for a diverse strategy targeted at any goal—to recover cash, clear warehouse space quickly, or ensure brand control

• Quick cycle times that scale to predictably move out excess inventory that would otherwise be simply taking up space

• Brand and channel control via custom rules and restrictions to help ensure your goods are sold how, where, and to whom you desire

• Data-backed resale Insights to help understand shifting buyer demand, optimize resale strategy, and accurately forecast pricing
• An automated resale process via dedicated account managers and automated features that make selling to 1,000 buyers as easy as selling to one

With the new year fast approaching and another wave of post-holiday returns looming, your business doesn’t have to be left holding the bag.

To learn more about what B-Stock can do for you, post-holiday and all year long reach out to our B2B resale experts to schedule a live platform demo.