Thirty million presents valued at £500,000,000 will be returned over the Christmas period, with home delivery firms expecting 600,000 failed deliveries, according to figures released by LCP Consulting.
The expected scale of returns and the need to redeliver will put additional demands on the retailers during the seasonal holiday, according to the consultancy who says that next day deliveries will be higher year-on-year because of retailers moving last order dates further from Christmas day.
Stuart Higgins, retail partner at LCP Consulting said: “Retailers face a critical choice about where they should focus their investments to ensure success. They may attract customers by managing the front end, particularly during the critical Christmas period – but that is only half the story. How likely will they be to return when the experience doesn’t match the promise?”
