January always puts returns firmly in the spotlight. Golden Quarter sales data is being finalised, with a clearer picture of peak sales and operational practices emerging. This naturally prompts a closer look at returns policies and practices, and it’s at this time of the year when we see a sharp rise in new enquiries, as retailers and brands look to reassess their returns strategies and seek out new solutions to boost performance.
Improving returns often sits at the heart of peak-season reviews and planning discussions for the year ahead. How can retailers and brands ensure their strategies stay competitive in an increasingly competitive e-commerce landscape? What changes are needed to maximise the financial value and lifecycle of products sent back by shoppers?
The answers to these questions – and more – will be influenced by the growing importance of marketplaces, sustainability and recommerce. Together, these factors are shaping four key trends in returns management and processing in 2026.
1) Making returns customer centric. Supply chain professionals (22%) ranked improvements in customer service as their top returns priority for 2026. Goals include making returns faster (19%), reducing the costs of returns for shoppers (17%) and shortening lead times for customer refunds (16%).
2) Streamlining salvaging. Retailers and brands want to increase the salvage rates (19%) of goods being sent back. A third of businesses (33%) plan to outsource returns processing to help optimise repair and restoration process in 2026, as they aim to boost sustainability and compliance, and develop recommerce models.
18% referenced Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes as a key driver for optimising returns processing and strengthening salvage rates, while 27% are prioritising recommerce as part of their 2026 returns strategies. 32% are focusing on improving the rerouting of ‘beyond-repair’ returns to recycling.
Clearly defined salvage rates and robust quality inspections, backed up by returns management software that enables connectivity and enriches supply chain data, can minimise waste and errors. This is why there’s such a strong focus on salvaging.
3) Localising returns. The growing success of marketplace retail models is making international growth accessible and affordable for a wide range of brands. Attention is now switching to localising returns management to manage costs and reduce supply chain mileage. 35% of supply chain professionals have made local returns consolidation a top-ranking priority for this year. 18% are actively focusing on improving the returns management of goods sent back via marketplaces, with 16% keen to enhance the visibility of customer returns.
4) Monetising returns. 2026 will see the continued trend of retailers and brands prioritising the productivity and profitability of returns processing and management. 18% are adapting strategies to generate more revenue from returns, with emphasis on duty drawback from cross-border returns (20%), decreasing back-to-stock time (16%) and reducing losses caused by returns fraud (14%).
Optimising returns, developing on-trend solutions
Growing consumer preferences for marketplaces, recommerce and sustainability can increase the complexities of goods being sent back by shoppers. There’s a risk of reverse logistics processes becoming longer and more fragmented, and this occurring at a time when legislation and consumers increasingly require supply chains to be more resourceful. Businesses are embracing this as an opportunity to rethink returns strategies.
Emphasis is being placed on treating returns as a strategic driver for supporting sales, customer satisfaction, sustainable practices and cost management. Sophisticated tech is enabling this and it’s why, for example, we see around a third of professionals (31%) prioritising portals for e-commerce returns, and technical capabilities ranking highly during the outsourcing of returns.
To learn more about the trends reshaping returns and for solutions to optimise returns management and processing, contact Advanced Supply Chain and ReBound by Reconomy.
About the statistics referenced in this article. Censuswide carried out online surveys of 901 senior supply chain decisions makers working throughout the e-commerce sectors in the UK, USA, Italy, France, Germany and Spain. Research was completed in October 2025 on behalf of Advanced Supply Chain and ReBound by Reconomy.
