Kurt Strasmann Kurt Strasmann is a executive managing director at CBRE.

Online returns a creating more demand for industrial warehouse space located near population centers. According to research from CBRE, items bought in stores have an 8% return rate, while items bought online have a 15% to 30% return rate. Return rates are increasing as online shopping rates increase. Last year, Southern California online retail sales hit $352 billion, a $3 billion year-over-year increase. At the same time ecommerce-related industrial deals in Southern California increased 74%. The report attributes the increase almost entirely to online sales activity.

“As ecommerce continues to pick up, returns will increase in similar ratios,” Kurt Strasmann, executive managing director of CBRE's Orange County and Inland Empire operations,” tells GlobeSt.com. “It's so easy to buy multiple items and return whatever you don't like at really no cost except shipping fees.  The current policy provides consumers with the ultimate flexibility. Therefore, this buying/returning culture is now built into consumers' thought processes and expectations when buying online. Until ecommerce companies start charging additionally for returns, we expect this trend to continue.”

Recommended For You

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.

Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Kelsi Maree Borland

Kelsi Maree Borland is a freelance journalist and magazine writer based in Los Angeles, California. For more than 5 years, she has extensively reported on the commercial real estate industry, covering major deals across all commercial asset classes, investment strategy and capital markets trends, market commentary, economic trends and new technologies disrupting and revolutionizing the industry. Her work appears daily on GlobeSt.com and regularly in Real Estate Forum Magazine. As a magazine writer, she covers lifestyle and travel trends. Her work has appeared in Angeleno, Los Angeles Magazine, Travel and Leisure and more.