Welcome to this week's roundup of eCommerce and logistics trends, where we share what we've been reading this week and our thoughts on it!

Positive responses to Loop's reusable packaging

In the last roundup, we talked about UPS's partnership with Terracycle, a recycling company that helped create a reusable packaging system called "Loop".

The good news is that this sustainability initiative got a lot of press worldwide, with Packaging Digest mentioning that the sentiment was positive overall.

Our take: While we're glad that this idea is well received, it's interesting hear other questions raised from packaging and sustainability experts. Some things to consider are whether companies will lower costs due to savings from not having to manufacture disposable containers, and whether it will actually reduce the amount of waste as (apparently) a lot of plastics in oceans come from developing nations without the right infrastructure to dispose of trash properly.

Trailers - the next trend to help with inventory management?

With the rise of eCommerce, warehousing space is getting difficult to secure, especially in the United States.

There's also an increasing demand in temporary and seasonal storage. According to Supply Chain Dive, the use of trailers are helping companies scale their warehouse space on demand.

And, since this trailers are mobile, they can easily be moved whenever companies need them, making distribution a lot quicker.

Our take: It's exciting to see other warehousing alternatives become available, especially the types the can help out small business owners who can't afford traditional storage space.

As a gentle reminder, Easyship partners with over 20 warehouses worldwide to help with your fulfillment and distribution needs. We offer flexible solutions at the simplest pricing!  Learn more.

Online shopping return rates

According to PaymentsJournal, eCommerce returns have grown a whopping 95% over the past 5 years, with clothing and accessories being the most returned category at 75%.

And fun fact - Germans return over half of their online purchases, making them the country with the highest return rate, based on research by WBE.

Our take: 2019 will be dominated by conversations on how eCommerce retailers can effectively manage returns. We're currently working on a blog post that will share tips on how SMB's can lower their return rate - stay tuned!