If you have holiday gifts to return, retail expert says do it now
By Jordyn Jagolinzer, WBZ-TV
WRENTHAM - After a weekend of gift-giving and opening presents, people packed the Wrentham Village premium outlets the day after Christmas.
Retail expert Ken Morris told WBZ-TV with the holiday recognized on a Monday, he expected it to be the busiest day of the week for returns.
He also suggested making those returns early this year, with fewer retailers extending their return policy this holiday season. Morris said, "People are lowering the number of days."
According to the National Retail Federation, retailers expect almost 18% of merchandise sold for the holiday to be returned.
"We actually have to do some returns and now just doing some shopping," said shopper Chanda Womack from Providence.
She along with thousands of other shoppers were greeted with long lines Monday, as the busiest return week of the year kicked off.
When asked if Womack minded waiting in the lines she said, "I actually do mind, but since my cousin, she loves Gucci, so I don't mind waiting in this particular line, but I walked over to Ugg, it was four times longer and I was like goodbye."
That's the line WBZ found Kim Canty of Webster in, making a return with her daughter. "We have come 45 minutes so we're going to wait here until we do it," said Canty. "I'm getting mother of the year because I'm staying in this long line and they're not even for me."
Other shoppers like Nikki Buchanan from Brooklyn are enjoying the outlets while in Massachusetts visiting family. She along with others stopped in Wrentham to spend some new Christmas money.
"I'm here to you know stimulate the economy," said Buchanan. For the first time, online returns are expected to be in line with store returns this year. Morris said online sales are up two percentage points in 2022.
"That's increasing the amount of returns because online returns make up 30-35% of everything purchased," said Morris.
He also said many stores no longer do free returns, especially for online sales.
"Free returns for online purchases, how long can that continue before it doesn't make any sense? You can't make money if you have a 35% return rate and you're giving free everything," he continued.
For shoppers in Wrentham, braving the busy stores is worth it when enjoying the company of loved ones.
Tevy Prak from Philadelphia said to her, this is what the holiday season is all about. "Spending time with friends, eating good food, and hanging out with family," said Prak.
The National Retail Federation says the cost of holiday returns this year is estimated to be $171 billion.