Monica Eaton Says Customer Wardrobing Will Lead to a Surge of Returns
Chargebacks911 COO Monica Eaton was asked to weigh in about holiday returns and their ensuing deadlines in a new feature for WTSP 10 Tampa Bay.
10 Tampa Bay is a broadcast channel that has served the Tampa Bay area since 1965. They’re known for the award-winning investigative reporting of the 10 Investigates team, while also presenting important news and weather updates to keep Bay Area viewers informed on a daily basis.
With a nod to record online and retail shopping numbers, merchants in Tampa Bay are expecting a high rate of returns. In fact, some experts project that 1 in 3 consumers will be returning gifts that just didn’t hit the mark this month. In expectation of this post-holiday stampede, some merchants have set additional terms and deadlines for incoming returns.
With an incoming return estimate running toward $70 billion… that makes for a lot of merchandise in flux, despite considerable supply issues. When asked for her thoughts on this, Monica described the phenomenon as ‘bracketing’. This refers to people ordering multiple versions of the same item online, maybe in a different size or color, and just keep one with free shipping on returns.
She went on to hypothesize that holiday promotions may be partially to blame for the trouble. "Honestly, I think part of this is all the promotions. Especially if you buy stuff on Amazon where you buy things online it’s tempting to just kind of just overbuy and overspend because of the convenience that you can always send it back," she said. "If you don’t like it, you can send it back. You might as well buy one in every color and see which one works best."
