Field Study: Global Supply Chains — Returns (Part 4)

Investigating the current and future state of global e-commerce supply chains.

This post is part of a five-part Field Study by Alpaca exploring the current state of global e-commerce supply chains and the opportunities we see ahead. Use these quick links to read the entire series: Part 1: Global Supply Chains, Part 2: Delivery, Part 3: Cross-Boarder, Part 4: Returns, Part 5: Conclusion.

I recently spotted this on Twitter, and I couldn’t help but find it fitting for the enormous issue of e-commerce returns:

While e-commerce has many clear benefits over brick-and-mortar (more selection, convenience, price comparison), returns are still a high-friction process for most customers. Online shopping makes it challenging to find the right size, and returns require a printer, lots of packing tape, and/or a trip to a drop-off point.

Almost half of US shoppers will “bracket” their online order — meaning they’ll order multiple sizes of the same item to find the right fit. And…