Online Sellers: Crazy Online Purchase Return Statistics

If you’re an online seller and you feel like every customer wants to return their purchase, you are not alone! Shopify provided this absolutely mindblowing new data about Customers returning online purchases that every online seller should read.

This first chart is absolutely the most disturbing. Did you know that almost 8% of online shoppers who were surveyed report RETURNING OVER 50% OF WHAT THEY BUY ONLINE? That means 8 out of 100 people return 1 to 2 out of every 3 things they buy on the internet.

Then, almost 17% of online shoppers report that they send back 30%-half of their online purchases. This means 17 out of 100 people ship back 1 to 2 purchases out of every 4 they buy. Combined together, these two categories account for approximately 22% of all online shoppers (or 22 out of 100 people).

I suppose the good news is that 38% of online buyers return 30% or less of their purchases.

What I also found to be surprising is that clothing actually IS NOT the most returned item! Surprisingly, Automotive parts takes first place with almost 20 out of 100 purchases being returned!

When shoppers were asked how long of a timeframe they want to return items the majority (approximately 85%) of shoppers want a full month. Thankfully, only a very small percentage expect the return policy to give them a FULL YEAR.

Most common reasons for returns:

1. Size too small: 30%
2. Size too large: 22%
3. Changed my mind: 12%
4. Style: 8%
5. Not as described: 5%
6. Defective: 5%
7. Other or not specified: 18%

If you want to read the full article on Shopify, it’s worth the time and you can check it out here.