Walmart Announces Major Change Before Holiday Season

The holiday shopping season is officially here, so get ready for the cha-ching of plenty of spending. But, according to research from the experts at Deloitte, this year is expected to bring slower growth in holiday retail sales this year due to inflation.

Deloitte's 2025 holiday retail forecast states that holiday retail sales are expected to grow between 2.9 percent and 3.4 percent in 2025 for a total of $1.61 trillion to $1.62 trillion. While it's good to see growth, according to their research, during the 2024 holiday shopping season, retail sales grew 4.2 percent to total $1.57 trillion. So, sales aren't expected to go up as much as last season.

However, there is an exception, and according to Deloitte, "E-commerce is expected to grow at a healthy pace of between 7% and 9% year-over-year during the 2025–2026 holiday season, thereby contributing to overall retail sales growth during this period."

Walmart Makes a Change for Customers

With the holidays here, stores are making changes to cater to customers. Now, Walmart has updated its holiday return policy just in time for the busy the spending season.

With Walmart's holiday return policy, the majority of the items purchased both in-store or online from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31 are returnable until Jan. 31. The move, of course, is to help customers who are purchasing gifts, in case those presents don't go over too well and they need to return them. Walmart's holiday return policy allows for for greater flexibility.

Walmart's traditional return policy allows most items to be returned up to 90 days after the purchase or upon receipt.

Note that customers who purchase products from dealers or resellers and not Walmart or Walmart.com directly aren't eligible for this return policy. These third-party vendors may have different return policies, and customers will have to look at those separately from the company's holiday return policy.

Walmart's Official Statement

"Most items purchased in-store or online from October 1 through December 31 are returnable until January 31 Marketplace seller participation varies," Walmart notes on their official website.

Also, there are some exceptions to the return policy, such as consumer electronics items, which must be returned within 30 days. Also, wireless phones must be returned within 14 days.

As for damaged or defective items, Walmart states, "If an item you received from Walmart.com is damaged or defective, your item may be eligible to be returned by mail or returned to any Walmart store and may qualify for a refund or replacement. Please start your return in the Walmart app or online by going to your Purchase History."