Where do Online Returns Really End Up And What Amazon Is Doing About It. Watch the Story for fully Story.
Sending back an online order has never been easier. It’s often free for the customer, with some retailers even allowing customers to keep the item while offering a full refund. Amazon returns can be dropped off at Kohl’s, UPS or Whole Foods without boxing it up or even printing a label.
But there’s a darker side to the record number of returns flooding warehouses after the holidays. In 2021, a record $761 billion of merchandise was returned, according to estimates in a new report from the National Retail Federation.
That report says 10.3% of those returns were fraudulent. Meanwhile, Amazon third-party sellers told CNBC they end up throwing away about a third of returned items.
CNBC
The Issue of Unsold Inventory
As per this CNBC Report – Every year, Amazon and other retailers end up with billions of pounds of excess, unsold inventory that they’re sending straight to landfills, or incinerating. Returns in the U.S. create more than 5 billion pounds of waste in landfills each year, and more than 15 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. The problem is only growing as Amazon leads the way in bringing more shoppers online, where the rate of returns is 25%, compared to just 9% for in-store purchases.
Now, the e-commerce giant and other tech companies and retailers are increasing donation efforts and using data and A.I. to cut back on the wasted inventory clogging our landfills and our planet. Watch the Video to know more
