Major U.S. retailers who adopted longer return policies during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to entice customers could be paying for those changes — in more ways than one — if holiday shoppers return a record $112 billion in unwanted gifts, Reuters reported Wednesday (Dec. 29).
Supply chain tie-ups have inventories lower than they’ve been since 1992, which led many retailers to start their holiday promotions in September in an effort to spread out the shipping and labor effects across a longer period than the usual holiday shopping peak between Thanksgiving and Christmas.