Summer sales are ending. For a few weeks, brands focused all their energy on a single goal, converting. And the terrain is favorable.
In 2025, the French spent nearly 200 billion euros online according to FEVAD, and the number of orders grew even faster than the amounts, exceeding 3.2 billion transactions. In other words, never before have so many packages circulated. However, each of them carries the seeds of a delivery to be successful and, very often, a return to be processed. This is why the decisive moment in the customer relationship no longer occurs at the time of payment. It starts right after.
When returning becomes a reflex
Indeed, e-commerce has given rise to a consumer with radically new behaviors. Buying to try, using, then returning, this is what was once the exception and which now constitutes a step in its own right in the purchasing journey. The living room thus replaced the fitting room. We order several sizes, several colors, with the assumed intention of returning most of them. Sorting is therefore no longer done in stores but at home, and the cost of this sorting has changed sides.
This shift is cultural as well as generational. Because for a growing proportion of consumers, and particularly the youngest, returning a product after having worn it is no longer a transgression. It has become a reflex, almost an acquired right, a normal part of modern shopping. Thus emerges a new profile, the serial returner, who moves the selection process from the brand to his own home. And periods of high demand such as sales mechanically amplify the phenomenon, since they rhyme with impulsive purchases, over-orders and therefore increased returns. The underlying trend is also going in this direction, since FEVAD observes smaller baskets but more frequent purchases, a trivialization of the act of purchase which accompanies that of returns.
No returns are truly free
Let’s be clear, there is no such thing as a free return. Behind each returned package lies a very real chain of operations, from transport to reception, from inspection to repackaging, until restocking. Added to this is a loss of resale value, all the more rapid in fashion, where trends run out in a few weeks. However, this invoice, fully borne by the brand even when the return remains free for the customer, directly affects margins. And it has long been largely underestimated.
Faced with this pressure, there is a great temptation to tighten return conditions, or even penalize the consumer. However, this would be a misreading. In reality, the challenge is not to make the return more difficult but to make it more sustainable. This begins with better product information, reliable and consistent size guides and transparent policies, all levers which reduce unnecessary returns without compromising on the flexibility expected by customers. This then involves data, because not all serial turners are equal and some are even among the best customers of a brand. From then on, segmenting return behaviors rather than enduring them becomes a real strategic act.
Delivery, the weak link in trust
Post-purchase is not just about the return. At the other end of the chain, last mile delivery has emerged as the weak link in the experience. Parcels stolen from the landing, missed deliveries, missed slots, for many buyers the anxiety does not end with payment but begins with shipping confirmation. However, once trust is broken, it permanently reconfigures habits. We then turn to other methods of reception, and lockers are now the big trend, while we favor carriers capable of precise real-time tracking.
This is the paradox of this commercial season. Brands invest heavily to attract and convert, while loyalty and margins are now earned downstream, once payment has been made. The winning brands will therefore be those who stop seeing returns and delivery as simple constraints to endure. By managing them as strategic priorities, they transform a cost center into a real competitive advantage.
The sales will end. The packages will continue to leave and return. The real question is therefore no longer how to sell more for a few weeks but how to make the post-purchase journey a sustainable engine of growth.
