EenVandaag on returns, on television and radio

On 7 August 2026, EenVandaag ran an item on how webshops are trying to bring their return volumes down. The television broadcast went out at 18:30 on NPO1. The same day at 12:30, Carl van Heijst gave a live interview on the EenVandaag radio broadcast on NPO Radio 1.

What the item covered

The starting point is volume. Dutch consumers sent back 57 million parcels last year, and roughly one in three online purchases is returned. Researcher Hongli Joosten-Ma of The Hague University of Applied Sciences explains where that comes from: incomplete product information on websites, deliberately ordering several sizes to try at home, and impulse purchases people regret later.

She also points out that consumers systematically underestimate what a return costs. People think of 5 to 8 euros. Her research puts the real figure between 12 and 19 euros, made up of cleaning, sorting, customer service, and processing the refund.

What we added

Carl described what happens at the warehouse. A return is opened, inspected by a member of staff, and put back into stock. That is labour, and on low-value items the inspection often does not pay for itself. What is left is bulk resale or disposal.

Forwarding intervenes earlier. In the webshop's return portal, alongside the conventional warehouse return, the consumer gets the option to send the item straight to the next buyer, with a financial reward and without the trip through the warehouse.

The article

The full article by Karlijn Slob and Jaap van den Biesen is on the EenVandaag site: Van virtueel passen tot beloningen: zo proberen webshops retourzendingen tegen te gaan.