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Urban density impacts road freight transport, and that includes e-commerce logistics, too. A study from 2023 showed that the share of merchants able to offer same or next-day delivery was higher in Europe than in North America. Likewise, ** percent of surveyed European online sellers offered two-day delivery while only ** percent of sellers could ensure the same time frame in North America.

Shipping to consumers – and back

E-commerce companies outsource nearly the entire order fulfillment to external partners. Although third-party logistics providers serve several types of e-commerce businesses, their online returns management has room for optimization. In 2023, the share of third-party logistics warehouses ensuring return management services did not go over ** percent, even though it did increase from ** percent in 2021.

Value of online returns

The reason logistics providers and e-commerce players need to rethink return management is that the value of items sent from consumers’ doorsteps back to warehouses is gigantic. In 2023, the cost of online merchandise returned in the United States amounted to *** billion U.S. dollars, up from just ** billion U.S. dollars in 2019.