NRF: Retailers rest easy as shoppers plan to use gift receipts

HTT Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 12/9/2010 11:42:32 AM

Washington - Retailers can breathe a sigh of relief - more shoppers than last year are planning to give gift receipts with gifts, making the return process less painful than in the past, post holiday.

The National Retail Federation's Holiday Returns Survey found that six out of 10 - or 60.7% - of shoppers said they will provide a gift receipt most or some of the time when giving a gift, up from 58.5% who said so last year and 56.9% in 2006.

More good news for retailers: Nine out of 10 (88.4%) said they find stores return policies to be fair.

The survey polled 8,778 consumers and was conducted for NRF by consumer research firm BigResearch from November 3 to 9.

"The final week of December brings a variety of shoppers to stores, including people redeeming gift cards, bargain shoppers looking for next year's gifts and of course, gift recipients who need to make returns," said Matthew Shay, NRF president and ceo. "With crowds still at peak levels on most days after Christmas, retailers will have extra staff and customer service representatives to assist, but gift receipts really do help make the return process a smooth one."

But the lines to return unwanted gifts shouldn't be too long, anyway, as two-thirds (66.3%) of holiday shoppers said they didn't return a single gift last holiday season, the NRF survey showed.