The opening week of December 2024 saw the highest volume of customer returns on record, with an +80% rise in items sent back after the Black Friday period. New figures from returns specialist, ReBound Returns, showed that the first days of December 2025 are following a similar pattern.

Black Friday saw a record of 11.9million transactions, according to Nationwide. While data from ecommerce personalisation platform, Nosto, showed that digital sales on Black Friday rose by +15.2% year-on-year.

ReBound’s data shows that, although shoppers made the most of Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers, a sizeable share of items will later be returned. Survey findings from ReBound of 2,000 consumers in October 2024, indicate that roughly one in three shoppers send back purchases made during these promotional events.

In 2024, returns peaked on Monday 02 Dec, coinciding with Cyber Monday. Many Black Friday deals were available earlier in the week, allowing orders to arrive and be returned quickly. Rebound reports that early data for 2025 shows a similar surge on Monday 01 Dec.

Last year, a second spike occurred in early January, with returns rising by +59% on average, reflecting the impact of Christmas and Boxing Day purchases.

“Black Friday deals and holiday shopping drive larger baskets, but not every item is kept,” said Brian Cotter, Head of Customer Experience at ReBound Returns. “Shoppers decide quickly which items to return, often sending them back within days.”

“For retailers, the challenge lies in quickly inspecting and processing returns for resale. A high volume of uninspected returns can sit in warehouses, off the shelves and out of circulation, resulting in lost sales opportunities during the critical countdown to Christmas,” Cotter added.