A tidal wave of returns hits the e-commerce industry

a package delivered is easy. Sending it back is not. Repacking, printing labels and shipping it back up to the seller is an increasingly familiar experience for online shoppers. In America 21% of online orders, worth some $218bn, were returned in 2021, according to the National Retail Federation, up from 18% in 2020. For clothing and shoes it can reach around 40%. It is a headache for retailers. The problem has its roots in the birth of e-commerce. To compete with bricks-and-mortar sellers and make consumers comfortable with ordering online, e-commerce firms offered free returns. Consumers came to expect it. The scale of returns has been amplified by the covid-induced boom. In America online-shopping now makes up 15% of retail sales by value, up from 10% at the start of 2019.