$743B
Merchandise returned across US retail in 2023 — 14.5% of all sales.
NRF & Appriss Retail (2023)Data · Updated 2026
US shoppers returned $890 billion of merchandise in 2024, about 16.9% of sales, and the top reason for online returns is the wrong size, fit or color. Clear dimensions and specs on the product photo target the biggest preventable cause of returns.
Every figure below links to its original source. 30 statistics, each traced to a named, published report.
Returns are now a structural cost of retail, and e-commerce carries the heaviest rate.
Merchandise returned across US retail in 2023 — 14.5% of all sales.
NRF & Appriss Retail (2023)Value of merchandise US shoppers returned across retail in 2024.
NRF & Happy Returns (2024)Share of annual US retail sales that were returned in 2024.
NRF & Happy Returns (2024)Projected value of US retail returns in 2025 — 15.8% of sales.
NRF & Happy Returns (2025)Share of US online sales expected to be returned in 2025.
NRF (2025)Online return rate in 2023, versus 10.02% for pure in-store purchases.
NRF & Appriss Retail (2023)The US return rate has more than doubled since 2019, from 8.1% to 16.9%.
Shopify, citing NRF (2024)Share of all US retail returns that are fraudulent.
NRF (2025)Landfill waste from processing US retail returns each year, alongside 15 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions.
OptoroThe biggest, most preventable cause of returns is the buyer not knowing what they were getting.
Wrong size, fit or color is the top reason for online returns — named #1 by 34% of Amazon returners and 46% at other retailers.
Narvar (2019)Online shoppers who say they have returned an item that didn’t fit.
DealNews, via Shopify (2025)Consumers who returned an item because the online description was misleading or inaccurate.
Akeneo (2025)Consumers who returned an item because of misleading product images.
Akeneo (2025)Consumers who returned an item because of inaccurate product information online.
Akeneo (2025)Online shoppers who returned an item because it didn’t match the description.
DealNews, via Shopify (2025)Shoppers who have returned an online item because it didn’t match the product description.
Salsify (2017)Apparel return rate for online purchases, versus 6.2% for in-store.
ICSC (2024)Swimwear’s online return rate — the highest of any apparel category analyzed.
Loop Returns (2024)Buyers lean on the product images to judge size — and abandon when the visuals or details fall short.
Users who try to figure out a product’s real size from the product-page images.
Baymard Institute (2026)Shoppers who say images and videos are the biggest product-page factor in deciding to buy.
Salsify (2026)Consumers who always or regularly seek out photos and videos before buying.
PowerReviews (2021)Shoppers who need to see at least three product images before buying.
Salsify (2017)US shoppers who won’t buy a product if they can’t find detailed information about it.
Salsify (2022)Shoppers who won’t purchase if images are missing or of low quality.
Salsify (2022)Consumers who say high-quality images and detailed descriptions is a top-three reason they trust a product online.
Salsify (2021)Ecommerce sites that don’t offer product images with sufficient resolution or zoom.
Baymard Institute (2020)Missing product detail costs sales before a return is ever filed — and B2B buyers are no more patient.
Shoppers who would switch to a different website because of a lack of product information.
Syndigo (2024)Shoppers who abandoned a purchase in the last six months because they couldn’t find enough product information.
Syndigo (2024)B2B buyers who report frustrations that lead to abandoned purchases when buying online.
Sana Commerce (2025)B2B buyers who struggle to find products online, which delays their purchases.
Sana Commerce (2025)The pattern is consistent: returns are large and growing, e-commerce carries the heaviest rate, and the leading, most preventable cause is a buyer who didn’t know the real size or spec before ordering. Meanwhile shoppers actively try to read size off the product images.
That is exactly what an accurate spec diagram fixes. Marking true dimensions and specs on the product photo answers the size question up front — cutting pre-sale questions and the size-driven returns these numbers describe.
Related: product spec sheet maker · best tools to add dimensions to product photos · SizeMarker vs AI image generators · return cost calculator
An estimated 19.3% of US online sales will be returned in 2025 (NRF) — far higher than in-store, where the rate is roughly 10%.
The wrong size, fit or color is the single most-cited reason for online returns (Narvar), followed by items that don’t match the description or images (Akeneo, Salsify).
Yes. 34% of consumers say they returned an item because of misleading product images (Akeneo), and 42% try to judge a product’s size from the images alone (Baymard).
Show accurate dimensions and specs directly on the product photo, so buyers understand the real size before ordering — which targets the biggest preventable cause of returns.
US retail returns totaled $890 billion in 2024 and a projected $849.9 billion in 2025 (NRF), on top of reverse-logistics cost, waste and lost buyer trust.
We include only statistics we could trace to a named source, and link each figure to its origin. Most carry a publication year (2017–2026); return rates vary by year, category and methodology, so read each in context. Sources: NRF (National Retail Federation), Baymard Institute, Narvar, Salsify, Akeneo, Syndigo, Sana Commerce, Loop Returns, ICSC, PowerReviews, Optoro, Shopify.
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