As the fourth quarter of 2025 approaches, the North American home furnishings e-commerce market has officially entered its peak season. According to Wayfair's official announcement, its Fall 2025 "Way Day" promotion will take place over four days, October 26th to 29th. As one of the platform's most important promotional events of the year, the event will not only cover a wide range of categories, including furniture, lighting, rugs, and storage, but is also seen as a precursor to the year-end shopping season.

For cross-border sellers, Way Day not only means a surge in traffic and orders, but also foreshadows increased pressure on after-sales and returns.

As North American home furnishings consumption heats up, returns become a concern.

According to data released by Statista, the US home furnishings and furniture e-commerce market is expected to exceed $170 billion in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 6.8%. Platforms such as Wayfair, Amazon, and Walmart will continue to dominate the market. Demand for home furnishings is concentrated from October to December each year, reaching peaks during events like Way Day, Black Friday Cyber Monday, and the Christmas season.

However, big sales often come with high return rates. Research by the data firm Invesp shows that the average return rate for US e-commerce is approximately 16.5%. Furniture and home decor products, due to issues like size, material, and installation difficulty, typically have return rates exceeding 20%. Wayfair's platform primarily sells medium-to-large items, resulting in high warehousing and reverse logistics costs, posing a significant challenge to sellers' profits.

For cross-border sellers in particular, facing the "no-questions-asked" return culture among US consumers, an efficient, compliant, and cost-effective return system is crucial to maintaining business stability.

Pre-emptive planning for returns processing is key to a successful fourth quarter.

With Way Day and the subsequent holiday shopping season approaching, sellers who focus solely on promotions and stocking up often overlook the cascading impact of returns. Returns not only impact the speed of cash flow but also negatively impact the health of their accounts and user experience.

For FBA sellers, concentrated returns periods can lead to inventory squeezes. For FBM sellers, lacking a local return warehouse can lead to higher return costs and longer processing times. Many sellers have begun selecting local US return warehouses in advance, improving overall operational efficiency through services such as local quality inspection, classified resale, defective product handling, or return shipping.

Against this backdrop, U-Speed's US return warehouses have become the preferred choice for a growing number of cross-border sellers.

U-Speed US return warehouse: Efficient Coverage of the East and West Coasts

U-Speed operates two self-operated return warehouses in the US, located in New Jersey and Los Angeles, forming a dual-warehouse network in the east and west.

Eastern US (New Jersey) Return Warehouse

The New Jersey warehouse covers 7,250 square meters and has an average daily processing capacity of over 20,000 pieces. Located in the New York metropolitan area, it is within a half-hour drive of major ports and airports, enabling rapid processing of returned items, including warehousing, quality inspection, and reshipment.

US West Coast (Los Angeles) Return Warehouse

The Los Angeles warehouse, also 7,250 square meters in size, has a daily processing capacity of over 10,000 pieces. Located conveniently near Los Angeles International Airport and the Port of Long Beach, it provides efficient return forwarding services for sellers on the West Coast and supplying Amazon FBA warehouses.

Both warehouses are fully equipped with forklifts, light and heavy-duty racking, fire monitoring, and 24-hour CCTV security systems to ensure the storage environment and cargo safety.

Efficient and transparent return processing

U-Speed's US return warehouse utilizes a "US Operations Team + China Management Team" model. A Chinese returns team oversees process management, while a local Chinese team oversees warehouse operations. Supported by a professional customer service team, this ensures seamless communication between China and the US.

U-Speed US return quality inspections are completed within an average of two days, and return logistics arrive at the warehouse within 3-5 days. Sellers can monitor the return status in real time through the system, providing visibility throughout the entire return process and avoiding information asymmetry and cargo delays.

U-Speed also offers customized return solutions, including:

Multi-platform return acceptance;

Re-listing, relabeling, and defective product sorting;

Repatriation and environmentally friendly destruction services.

These services not only help sellers reduce labor and time costs, but also ensure compliance and professionalism in the return process.

Opening up the entire US cross-border logistics chain

It is worth noting that U-Speed's presence in the US market is not limited to returns. Its service system also covers first-leg transportation, warehousing, drop shipping, and reverse returns, forming a complete logistics service loop. Sellers can collaboratively manage the entire process from shipping to returns on the U-Speed platform without having to connect with multiple parties.

This integrated advantage enables sellers to achieve faster response times and lower costs with the same resources during "Way Day" and the subsequent Black Friday and Christmas sales, allowing them to seize the profit window during the holiday sales peak season.

Seize the benefits of peak season and don't overlook returns.

"Way Day" in 2025 is not only the opening battle for the home furnishings e-commerce market, but also heralds the official arrival of the year-end consumer boom in the United States. While preparing inventory, pricing, and investing in advertising, cross-border sellers should also incorporate returns into their overall operational strategy.

Choosing a returns partner like U-Speed, with self-operated warehouses in both the East and West Coasts of the United States, a mature processing system, and efficient response times, means less worry and more proactiveness during the high pressures of peak season. For sellers aiming to win at the end of the fourth quarter, establishing a return system in advance may be a crucial step in determining their performance ceiling.