The Future of Retail and Technology: How Many Happy Returns?

The Buzz 1: Retailers expect 17.8% or $158 billion of merchandise sold during the 2022 holiday season will be returned, according to National Retail Federation. [digitalcommerce360.com] The Buzz 2: Retail returns jumped to an average of 16.6% in 2021 versus 10.6% in 2020, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation and Appriss Retail. That adds up to more than $761 billion of merchandise…in unwanted purchases that come back to retailers' stores and warehouses and become a headache for companies that must decide whether they can resell those items, get them written off by the manufacturer or if they must take the loss. The average rate of returns for online purchases was 20.8% — up from 18.1% in 2020. [cnbc.com] The Buzz 3: Retail in the Age of Instinct. Trends shaping CPG and retail organizations include 'Optimized Reality': CPG and retail companies are using data and digital technologies to tailor experiences, services, products, and promotions to the individual and shift from maximizing supply chains to personalizing demand chains. [www.genpact.com] We'll ask Praful Karanth, Victoria Wieck, Matt Laukaitis, Navjit Bhasin and Oliver Stocks for their take on The Future of Retail and Technology: How Many Happy Returns?