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Buy something online, and there’s more than a one-in-four chance you’ll send it back. Consumers who use e-commerce return their purchases 25 to 30 percent of the time, says a study by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) at the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). For brick-and-mortar stores, the return rate is just 9 percent.
Those figures should come as no surprise. After all, when you buy online you often take a leap of faith, hoping the sweater will look as good on you as on the model, or the headphones will provide rich, natural sound.
Today’s consumer purchases happen more rapidly than ever, making returns an unavoidable aspect of the shopping experience. Every year, billions of dollars worth of returned goods make their way back to retailers, often resulting in excess inventory. Many of these…