Return rate

The return rate is the percentage of sold products that are returned by customers.

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The return rate provides an indication of how much of the total revenue is lost after a purchase has been made.

How to calculate return rate

The return rate can be calculated by dividing the number of returned products by the total number of products sold and multiplying by 100.

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It is also possible to calculate the return rate based on the return value in euros, to immediately see the financial impact of returns on your revenue.

What are the costs of returns?

Research shows that the average in the Netherlands is around €12.50 per return, including transport costs from the customer.

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The actual costs for processing a return depend on various factors, but in practice, these range from a few euros to tens of euros per return.

How many packages are returned?

The most recent study by the ACM showed that in 2021 there were approximately 57.5 million returns out of more than 500 million packages shipped in the B2C market segment.

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This meant that return packages accounted for 11.4% of the B2C volume and 10.2% of the total number of package movements in the B2C market segment. When it comes to fashion, where the most returns occur, the average is over 30%.

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For example, the average return rate for women's fashion in the Netherlands is 40.6%. In Germany, that percentage is 50.9%, and in France, it is 19.2%.

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The percentage of returned products is significantly higher on marketplaces than on proprietary webshops. On average, more than 60% of purchases made on marketplaces are returned.