With the holidays fast approaching, goTRG finds insights into the issues that retailers expect to impact their bottom line this holiday season.
With the backdrop of significant economic and political uncertainties that are influencing how retailers plan and execute their strategies, goTRG surveyed over 450 U.S. retailers about topics such as the rise of various types of returns fraud, the growing role of AI to prevent returns, concerns on inventory management, changing returns policies and more.
More than half (56%) of retailers have higher inventory levels than last year, with almost one fifth (19%) reporting they are significantly higher. The data supports this finding, as 8 of the 11 largest retailers reported having higher inventory levels on their earnings calls last quarter. While this increase presents opportunities for greater sales, it also adds complexity, particularly as returns continue to be a significant concern for many businesses.
Key Takeaways:
- This year, nearly two-thirds (63%) of retailers categorize returns as a severe or significant problem — a noticeable improvement from the nearly three quarters (73%) who reported the same last year. This suggests that continuing to implement and enhance these strategies could further alleviate the impact of returns, supporting overall business performance.
- Over half of the respondents reported that returns fraud has become a bigger problem for their business over the past 12 months. This issue is expected to intensify during the holiday period, with 52% of retailers indicating that returns fraud worsens during this time of year.
- As some retailers lean into discovering new ways to improve their returns, there is still significant whitespace for the continued adoption of these technologies as our survey revealed that just over half (52.6%) of retailers are not utilizing AI or machine learning to reduce return rates and improve returns experiences.
