Peak Season Customer Support That Scales in Weeks, Not Quarters

Here is the pattern we see every year. Retailers hire seasonal staff in October, run them hard through December, and release them in the first week of January. Then the returns arrive.

The National Retail Federation reports that the vast majority of returns occur in January, after the winter holidays. Retailers surveyed expect roughly 17% of holiday sales to come back. For online sales specifically, the return rate reaches 19.3%.

Adobe Analytics measured the timing precisely. Returns rose 4.7% in the December 26 to 31 window alone, and one in every seven seasonal returns landed in those six days. The wave starts before most seasonal contracts end.

Return contacts are also harder than order contacts. They involve a disappointed customer, a policy explanation, and a retention opportunity. Handling them with a skeleton team after your best seasonal agents have left is how a good Q4 turns into a bad Q1 retention number.

Katherine Cullen, NRF Vice President of Industry and Consumer Insights, framed the shift directly. She noted that "returns are no longer the end point of a transaction". They are a retention event, and they need staffing that reflects it.