Total US retail return volume will reach $627.34 billion this year, a 2.2% increase YoY, according to our forecast. Some retailers are turning to return fees to make up for increased costs, but that’s a risky move that may end up alienating customers. Here are three alternatives to return fees, ranging from the short term (building out product descriptions and customer reviews) to the long term (creating a returns as a service offering).

Watch AR ecommerce at Snapchat's quarterly earnings: The company is sure to give more details on its push to make AR shopping a bigger part of its platform, especially after announcing two major partnerships earlier this week.

Business Insider Intelligence research analyst Daniel Keyes, eMarketer principal analyst Andrew Lipsman, and senior forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Cindy Liu discuss the overachieving retailers of Q3—Peloton, Etsy, and Wayfair. They then talk about the EU's antitrust charges filed against Amazon, VF Corp.'s acquisition of Supreme, and Verishop launching a social network within its app.

More than a year since launch, Verishop has made strides in the marketplace landscape. In addition to boosting discoverability efforts and continuing to work with direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands, the company is also dipping its toes in the social commerce arena.

We recently spoke with Leila Kashani Manshoory, founder and CEO of Alleyoop, about the challenges of remote photoshoots, the company’s recent pop-up partnerships with Bloomingdale’s and Verishop, and its foray into augmented reality (AR).

The direct-to-consumer brand movement has reached a critical juncture. Which of these brands will make the leap into the mainstream before their runway runs out?

In June 2019, former Snapchat chief strategy officer Imran Khan set out to shake up the marketplace landscape, including Amazon, when he launched ecommerce platform Verishop. We recently spoke with Khan about how Verishop is helping direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands scale, as well as its ongoing efforts to give consumers a new way to discover products.

With a robust cache of data in tow and proven success with social, direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands have shifted their focus to more traditional mediums with the hopes of attaining a broader customer base.