With a record number of consumers shopping online for the holidays, post-holiday returns and exchanges will keep UPS busy right through the new year. UPS National Returns Day is Jan. 6, 2015, when the company expects consumers will ship more than 800,000 packages back to retailers and merchants. By the end of the first full week in January, UPS anticipates transporting 4 million return packages in the United States.

“We have successfully completed two of three phases of the Peak holiday delivery season. Our Cyber Weekend and pre-Christmas performance helped retailers take advantage of holiday demand. We are now preparing for a surge in volume driven by Returns Week beginning next Monday,” said Alan Gershenhorn, UPS executive vice president and chief commercial officer. “As e-commerce continues to grow, simple returns services have become an essential part of the overall consumer shopping experience. Our research shows online shoppers care about returns convenience with 66 per cent reviewing a retailer’s return policy before making a purchase, and 68 per cent said they would complete an online purchase if the retailer simply offered a free return shipping label,” he said.

According to the 2014 UPS Pulse of the Online Shopper Study, returns are on the rise with 62 per cent of consumers stating they returned an item bought online in 2014, compared to 51 per cent in 2012.