Returns by the Numbers: Where Online Retail Stands in 2026, Live with the EHI Retail Institute

What is it about?

Returns are discussed a great deal, but rarely backed by reliable data. Before we look at concrete Solutions with Vendors during this webinar week, we start by placing the topic in context from an independent research perspective. Niklas Stanislawski from the EHI Retail Institute presents the most important findings of the current EHI study on shipping and returns management, for which over 100 online retailers were surveyed. Two findings in advance: Around 60 percent of retailers bear the full cost of returns themselves, because free returns have long been considered a competitive factor. AI, by contrast, is actively used by just 3 percent to analyse or predict returns. Andreas Löwe asks questions along the way and talks with Niklas about what has changed recently, where things are heading and what that means for warehousing and logistics.

This webinar is part of our webinar series "Returns Management". Further events from the series:

• Back into Stock: How Returns Become Available Again Quickly in the WMS – Live with PSI (Tuesday, 01.12.2026, 11 a.m.): Once a return is unpacked, it must be assigned to the correct order in the system and put back into storage, usually as a single item. Christian Welter from PSI shows what options are available for this and how new orders can be fulfilled directly from the returns stock.

Further events will be announced shortly.

Why you should attend

• you are responsible for returns in the warehouse and want to know where other retailers currently stand
• you currently record return reasons manually and are wondering how others use their returns data
• you want to assess how far AI and automation in returns processing have actually come
• you are planning your returns processes for the coming year and need reliable data to do so
• you want an overview of the topic before the other webinars of the week

What you will take away from the webinar

• you will get an overview of the most important findings from the current EHI study, covering return rates, return shipping costs and delivery times
• you will hear why so many retailers bear the returns costs themselves and what that means for the warehouse
• you will see what data retailers use today to manage their returns and where manual recording is still taking place
• you will get an honest assessment of how far AI and automation in returns processing have truly come
• you will take away approaches for how companies can make the most of current developments

Speaker

• Niklas Stanislawski, Project Manager Trade Logistics at the EHI Retail Institute
• Moderator: Andreas Löwe, CEO of even