With more e-commerce sales comes increased need for facilities to process returns.
Holiday sales returns are expected to show a significant spike this year. Though the final figures are still unknown with many e-commerce retailers extending their eligible returns periods through the end of January, a return logistics report from real estate services firm CBRE estimates that approximately $70.5 billion in holiday purchases will be returned in 2021. The figure represents a 73 percent increase from the previous five-year average.
A surge in e-commerce sales during the 2020 holiday season will produce a corresponding record amount of merchandise returns, notes Tray Anderson, head of the logistics and industrial services platform, Americas, for real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield. And while returned merchandise takes a bite out of retailers’ profits, it can be a boon for industrial property owners. Returns processing is a good replacement use for class-B and obsolete i