Returns to soar after Black Friday frenzy, fashion among top returned categories

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Dec 4, 2017

UK stores are expected to have dealt with large numbers of returns at the weekend following the Black Friday shopping surge in late November with a Collect+ survey saying returns were expected to peak on Friday.

Dubbed ‘back Friday’ by the delivery specialist, it also said that while electrical proved to be a major purchase category of the discount drive, they’ll make up only 18% of post-Black Friday returns overall. Instead, 42% of returned items will come under the fashion banner. Shoppers aged 18 to 25 and men will be most likely to return their Black Friday bargains.

Up to 18% of shoppers are expected to return an item they bought between Black Friday and Cyber Monday within the permitted window of up to a month, the survey of 1,000 UK consumers has shown.

That’s partly because 22% of respondents admitted to buying more than they wanted due to the large number of attractive discounts being offered, and 12% saying they just got carried away by the buzz surrounding Black Friday this year.

Some 49% of people shopped online over the four-day weekend as they sought to avoid crowds in stores, even though many physical stores were actually fairly quiet during the period. That fact is also likely to boost returns as shoppers who could have tried items on in-store chose to avoid the expected crowds and order multiple sizes online instead.

And the survey showed that 27% of consumers shopped online because they assumed that there would be better bargains there than in stores.

Post-Cyber Weekend returns rose 18% last year and Collect+ is predicting a further increase this time given the strong increase in online sales overall.