Blue Yonder, an IT provider for supply-chain processes, released in early September the results of its “Global Consumer Retail Returns Survey 2025,” which shows how stricter return policies in retail influence shoppers’ behavior worldwide. This comes from a company press release. For the survey, which has already been conducted in the United States for the third time, respondents this year also included consumers in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), France, Germany, the Middle East and the United Kingdom. The results showed that 84 percent of respondents would not shop at their preferred retailer under stricter return policies.
Stricter rules deter shoppers
Two-thirds (66 percent) of all respondents are deterred from making a purchase by stricter return policies. Of all regions, stricter return restrictions deter purchases most among consumers in the Middle East (75 percent), followed by France (70 percent), Germany (65 percent), the United Kingdom (63 percent), ANZ (62 percent) and the United States (59 percent). This trend is most pronounced among Millennials (74 percent) and Gen Z (71 percent) and aligns with the 2024 values at 74 percent and 76 percent respectively.
Uncomfortable and unfair
More than half of respondents worldwide (53 percent; 2024: 51 percent) believe that stricter return restrictions are inconvenient and unfair for consumers. For one third (33 percent) of consumers worldwide, the policies of many online retailers are so strict that they avoid shopping there.
Fees are perceived as unpleasant
Half (50 percent) of respondents worldwide say that charging a fee for returning a purchase is the most unpleasant aspect of stricter return conditions. Many consumers are nevertheless willing to pay this fee. Consumers in the United
States (36 percent) are most likely to forego returning an item when a fee is charged, followed by the United Kingdom (31 percent), Australia and New Zealand (31 percent), the Middle East (12 percent), France (11 percent) and Germany (10 percent).
Across generations, it is the Baby Boomers who are most likely not to return items when fees are involved, namely in the United States (45 percent), the Middle East (44 percent), the United Kingdom (41 percent), Germany (17 percent) and France (16 percent), while in Australia and New Zealand it is Gen X (38 percent).
“Keep it” returns were widespread during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study, however, suggests that retailers are increasingly moving away from this. Although 60 percent of respondents were still asked by a retailer to keep a product rather than return it, that is far less than in 2024, when the percentage was 72 percent.
Keep it, rather than return
Worldwide, respondents in the Middle East (73 percent) are most often asked to keep a product rather than return it, followed by France (68 percent), Germany (67 percent), the United States (55 percent), the United Kingdom (50 percent) and Australia and New Zealand (47 percent). Across all regions, clothing and accessories (38 percent) is the category most commonly associated with “Keep it” guidelines, followed by electronics (18 percent) and groceries (13 percent).
More than a third (36 percent) of respondents said that a return had been rejected by a retailer in the past year. Across generations, the likelihood that a return is rejected is greatest among Gen Z consumers (49 percent), followed by Millennials (42 percent), Gen X
(31 percent) and the Baby Boomers (14 percent). Across all regions, the likelihood that a return will be rejected is highest among consumers in Germany (52 percent) and the Middle East (52 percent), followed by France (50 percent), ANZ (24 percent), the United States (20 percent) and the United Kingdom (19 percent).
Across all regions, the three most common reasons for retailer refusals were that the return occurred outside the return window (31 percent), the product was excluded from exchange (26 percent) and the return history of the consumer precluded further returns (20 percent). As the main reasons for requesting a return, 31 percent of respondents worldwide cited defective or damaged products, followed by wrong size or fit (27 percent, a notable drop from 75 percent in 2024).
Increased awareness of sustainability
Respondents report that they are developing a stronger awareness of sustainable return habits. Almost two-thirds (65 percent, versus 55 percent in 2024) said that they consider the environmental impact of returns. Worldwide, respondents from the Middle East at 75 percent show the highest concern about the environmental friendliness of product returns, closely followed by France (73 percent), Germany (69 percent), the United Kingdom (61 percent), Australia and New Zealand (57 percent) and the United States (56 percent).
Nearly three-quarters (71 percent) of respondents worldwide said they would not complete the return process if they knew that their return would end up in a landfill. Respondents said that in such a case they would seek an alternative, environmentally friendly disposal method (23 percent), would try to resell the product (21 percent), donate it to charitable causes (16 percent) or give the
product to friends and family (10 percent).
Consumers in the Middle East (31 percent) are most likely to seek an alternative, environmentally friendly disposal method, followed by Germany (27 percent), France (26 percent), ANZ (19 percent), the United Kingdom (18 percent) and the United States (16 percent). Consumers in Australia and New Zealand (25 percent) are most likely to try to resell the product, followed by the United Kingdom (24 percent), the United States (24 percent), Germany (21 percent), France (20 percent) and the Middle East (16 percent).
“The results illustrate the critical attitude of consumers toward stricter return conditions, and the majority of consumers will continue to make their purchasing decisions on this basis,” said Tim Robinson, Senior Vice President, Commerce and Returns, Blue Yonder. “For generations, consumers across all regions have believed that return restrictions are unfair and inconvenient for them and demand a simple and seamless process. Given the 9.5 billion pounds worth of returns ending up in landfills, it is more important than ever for retailers to develop customer-friendly processes while also managing returns more efficiently in omnichannel environments to reduce costs and unnecessary waste.”
“The results show that consumers prefer to return items in an easy way, and retailers should prioritize convenient and sustainable return options,” Robinson continued. “Retailers should therefore offer consumers simpler and more sustainable return processes. By using AI-powered solutions, retailers can better track return data and trends and thus move from a one-size-fits-all approach to automated decision-making, where for each return, based on its value, an ideal return process is defined. In this way, retailers can achieve the perfect balance between costs, customer
