Retailers keep talking up their sustainability efforts, but shoppers aren’t buying it—and that disconnect is costing brands both money and trust, according to a new report from reverse logistics firm ReturnPro.
Despite retailers’ investments to restock, refurbish or recycle, most shoppers say they’ve never actually seen what happens to their returns. Seventy-seven percent have no proof of where their returned items end up. ReturnPro calls this the proof gap—and it’s only getting wider.
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“This is not a measurement gap; it’s a credibility gap,” said Sender Shamiss, co-founder and chief executive officer of ReturnPro. The report, “The Consumer Sustainability Proof Gap Retail Can’t Ignore,” centers on a breakdown between internal sustainability performance and outward-facing validation.
“Sustainability in retail isn’t failing because of lack of intent, it’s breaking down at the point of proof,” Shamiss said. “Retailers have made meaningful investments in sustainability, but without making those outcomes visible to consumers, that effort does not translate into trust.”
The returns process is where this disconnect is most obvious. Most consumers (85 percent) think their returns are resold or recycled. In reality, retailers say only about half of those items actually get a second life. That mismatch isn’t just a missed opportunity for transparency; it’s a real risk for brands.
Retailers are confident in their sustainability data—89 percent say it would hold up under scrutiny. But only 56 percent of consumers actually trust those claims. The skepticism is real, and it’s not going away.
“Sustainability is expected, but not decisive without clear proof,” the report reads. “This is not a measurement gap; it is a credibility breakdown. Retailers may have the data, but without clear, tangible and consumer-visible validation, that data fails to build trust.”
Transparency is what builds trust. Sixty percent of shoppers say seeing proof that brands are actually reusing or recycling goods makes them more confident in those brands. But most people say they never see any disclosure about what happens to their returns. The problem isn’t that retailers can’t share this information—it’s that no one is really in charge of making sure it happens.
Inside companies, legal worries, data silos and fear of reputational damage all slow down progress on transparency. The result: plenty of sustainability work happening behind the scenes, but almost none of it visible to the people who matter most: Consumers.
The same problem shows up in reverse commerce. Shoppers are ready to buy open-box or refurbished goods—82 percent say they’re open to it, and 61 percent already have. But for most retailers, recommerce still makes up less than 5 percent of revenue. The demand is there, but brands aren’t cashing in.
“Recommerce is not an emerging trend, it is a proven demand signal that retailers have yet to operationalize at scale,” the report reads. “Adoption is outpacing profitability, but scaling recommerce requires overcoming cost and operational constraints.”
Labor and processing costs, plus worries about margins, are the main things holding these programs back. And only 46 percent of retailers actually connect their ESG work to their brand messaging, which means they’re missing a chance to show consumers the value.
Still, when brands make the benefits clear, shoppers are willing to change. Seventy-four percent say they’d accept slower shipping if it meant products were reused or recycled. Fifty-nine percent would even put up with stricter return policies for the same reason.
“Consumers are resistant to unclear value, but willing to adapt their behavior when sustainability benefits are clear,” the report reads.
More than half of consumers say they’ll pay extra for eco-friendly options. Younger shoppers are especially willing to put their money where their values are.
Retailers are spending more on ESG reporting, but the incentives aren’t lining up. Seventy-five percent have formal ESG reports, but less than half actually tie executive pay to sustainability results.
“The next phase of retail sustainability is not execution,” the report states. “It is proof.”
To address this gap, ReturnPro introduced its 2026 Sustainability Alignment Index, a framework created to measure how effectively retailers translate sustainability efforts into consumer-visible validation across areas such as trust and circularity.
“The opportunity is significant,” Shamiss said. “Even modest improvements in disclosure, tracking and recommerce scale can simultaneously strengthen customer trust, protect margins and future-proof reverse logistics operations.”
The study is based on a March survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers and 300 enterprise retail executives.
