Free returns may have once been table stakes for e-commerce, but the tables have turned. Among brands that now charge fees for at least some return methods are Amazon, Zara, Abercrombie & Fitch, J.Crew, and H&M.

A 2023 study by Happy Returns found that 81% of retailers had started charging for at least one type of return in the previous 12 months. The value of returned merchandise in the US totalled $743 billion in 2023, according to the National Retail Federation.

Now returns and reverse logistics platform Loop is introducing a feature to offset the cost of returns called, fittingly enough, Offset. At checkout, online shoppers can opt for a relatively small fee—Loop suggests $1.98—in order to not be charged steeper fees later.

Among the more than 4,000 brands that use its software, nearly 70% now charge for returns, with an average return fee of $8.50, according to Loop.

Offset “is a way for a customer to be like, ‘Okay, now I know I won’t get hit with a hidden fee that I’m not aware of right now at the time of purchase,’” Loop CEO Hannah Bravo told Retail Brew. “‘I’m going to pay $1.98 right now, and I never have to think about it again.’”

Keep reading here.—AAN

When it comes to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, TikTok is relying on livestreams to generate revenue.

This holiday season, TikTok Shop will host “super livestreams” featuring celebrities (though it declined to share names).

Livestreaming was a dominant theme of TikTok’s first US commerce summit hosted in California last month. TikTok Shop seems determined to make live shopping work in the US, and is encouraging both brands and creators to go live as much as possible for two-hour sessions on average.

Keep reading here.—VC

Shrinkflation, when brands reduce the size of products, often imperceptibly, and charge the same or more, has drawn backlash, so when a company appears to reverse shrinkflation, it’s big news.

“PepsiCo is unshrinking shrinkflation,” began an October 16 article on CNN.com about the company’s plan to introduce bonus packs with 20% more product for some bags of Tostitos and Ruffles.

But does a bonus pack signify, as a headline in Benzinga the same day put it, that “Pepsi fights back” against shrinkflation?

No, contends consumer advocate Edgar Dworsky.

Keep reading here.—AAN