Returns as an opportunity: Understanding customer expectations, reducing barriers

Cologne, 11th December 2025

The growth of online retail and the resulting changes in retail dynamics have contributed to a significant increase in returns in recent years, which represents a considerable economic and environmental burden. Returns can serve as valuable, direct customer feedback for retailers and manufacturers, as they clearly show where customer expectations and actual experience diverge. "The returns process is now a key point of interaction between customers, retailers, and manufacturers. It is important to take this seriously and use the information gained to improve competitiveness and sustainability," says Dr. Tobias Röding from EHI, explaining the findings of the latest KPMG Consumer Snapshot, "Returns behavior in Germany: A question of attitude?"

Product perception and disappointed expectations are particularly decisive factors in the return of online purchases. Online shoppers cite the top 5 reasons for returns:

1. Quality defects: 73.8 percent
2. Wrong size: 72.6 percent
3. Damage to the product: 71.2 percent
4. Inaccurate description or discrepancies from product images: 60.4 percent
5. Intentional double orders (e.g., different sizes or colors): 46.2 percent

Despite better availability in stores, deliberate duplicate orders are more common in cities than in rural areas.

The majority of consumers consider more reliable and detailed product information—from precise size specifications and meaningful descriptions to realistic product images—to be particularly helpful for a more conscious and better understanding of the respective products. In addition, customers would appreciate better communication with retailers. This includes communication with real people (54.4 percent) as well as with AI-based advice assistants (42.4 percent). Digital or emotional measures, such as virtual fittings or sustainability information, receive lower approval ratings.

Almost a third of consumers find the return process of most retailers – especially in terms of procedures, deadlines, and costs – "complicated" or "very complicated." Among the younger target group, especially those aged 35–44, this is even the case for up to 44.2 percent. As digital and e-commerce natives, younger people may be somewhat less tolerant when it comes to handling returns than older consumers with less online experience. The same phenomenon can be observed among urban populations. Urban online shoppers often rate the return process more critically than rural shoppers. This dissatisfaction with the return process leads to 36.0 percent of customers "regularly" or "frequently" keeping products even though they are not completely satisfied with them. As a result, 36.6 percent of customers have not shopped with the same retailer again after a negative return experience.

59.0 percent of consumers feel personally responsible for avoiding returns in the interests of social and environmental sustainability.

Analyzing customer return behavior provides retailers and the consumer goods industry with valuable insights for optimizing processes—awareness of sustainability in particular forms a good basis for this. 

Free download: The digital version of the Consumer Snapshot is available as a free subscription: Onlinehandel: Konsumverhalten kennen, Retouren verringern.

Data:
PMG's Consumer Snapshot highlights current developments, trends, and drivers in retail and the consumer goods market. For this edition, the EHI Retail Institute surveyed 500 representative consumers online about their opinions on the topic of "return behavior" and evaluated this data for KPMG.

Publisher:
KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Luise-Straus-Ernst-Straße 2, 50679 Cologne, https://kpmg.com/de/de/home.html
EHI Retail Institute e. V., Spichernstraße 55, 50672 Cologne, www.ehi.org, +49 221 57993-0

About KPMG:
KPMG is an organization of independent member firms with more than 273,000 employees in 143 countries and territories. In Germany, KPMG is also one of the leading auditing and consulting firms, with over 14,000 employees at 27 locations. Our services are divided into the business areas of Audit, Tax, and Advisory. Audit focuses on the auditing of consolidated and annual financial statements. Tax stands for KPMG's tax consulting activities. The Advisory business area is divided into Consulting, Deal Advisory, and Performance & Strategy, and combines our high level of expertise in business, regulatory, and transaction-oriented topics.

About EHI:
The EHI is a research, education, and consulting institute for the retail sector and its partners, with around 80 employees and an international network of 850 member companies from the retail, consumer goods, capital goods, and service industries. The EHI is also a shareholder of GS1 Germany and Agraya and a partner of Messe Düsseldorf at major trade fairs such as EuroShop. The president of the EHI is Markant CEO Markus Tkotz and the managing director is Michael Gerling.