Black Friday: so many online returns end up in landfill

[Still Waters]

Two of the busiest online shopping days of the year are upon us. In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis and recession, retailers will be desperately hoping that shoppers take advantage of discounts on Black Friday and Cyber Monday to bump up annual sales figures.

While this would boost a sector that has yet to fully recover from the COVID pandemic, there’s a major downside. The more that shoppers buy online, the bigger the problem with returned goods.

Almost 60 million people shop online in the UK – in other words the vast majority. But most shoppers buy more than they intend to keep. They order multiple sizes and colours to find the perfect item, safe in the knowledge that there’s a convenient and “free” return option to dispose of the rest.

Continued:

https://theconversation.com/black-friday-so-many-online-returns-end-up-in-landfill-heres-what-needs-to-happen-to-change-that-195310