Nearly half of all online purchases made during the festive season are sent back after Christmas. This is evident from figures published by shipping platform Sendcloud. Wilco van den Heuvel, Professor of Operations Analytics at Erasmus School of Economics, conducts research into alternative ways to return items and how this can be done cost-effectively.
While an average of 23.5 per cent of online orders are normally returned, that figure rose to an official 44.5 per cent over the festive period, and in practice, according to the platform, sometimes even close to 50 per cent. January has therefore become the “hidden peak” of e-commerce.
Together with colleagues, Van den Heuvel explores alternative and more cost-efficient ways to reduce return flows. Partly based on insights from Van den Heuvel, the Rotterdam-based start-up It Goes Forward has developed software that enables returned garments to be matched directly with a new buyer. This avoids the need for items to be sent back to a warehouse first, thereby reducing both costs and carbon emissions.
Online retailers are grappling with whether to charge customers for returns. Sendcloud’s figures show that for many consumers, free returns remain a key condition for shopping online. Nearly 30 per cent deliberately order multiple sizes with the intention of sending some items back.
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Read this article by Dutch national newspaper “dagblad Trouw” of 25 February 2026, above (in Dutch). This “Research in a Nutshell” article for Backbone Magazine also covers this topic. For more information, please contact Ronald de Groot, Media & Public Relations Officer at Erasmus School of Economics: rdegroot@ese.eur.nl, +31 6 53 641 846.
