[clock ticking]
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CARL AZUZ: Hi, I'm Carl Azuz back
from the Thanksgiving holiday and hoping you're doing well.
There's been a lot of fast moving news
over the past few days concerning a new variant
or new mutation of coronavirus.
These diseases typically mutate as they
circulate around the world.
Is this something to worry about?
The short answer is, no one really knows yet.
Last Friday, the World Health Organization announced it would
name the new variant Omicron.
Some are pronouncing that Omocron.
It's another letter of the Greek alphabet like Delta.
Though it's not known exactly where
the mutated virus first appeared,
it was first identified in South Africa.
And the doctor who made that identification says
Omicron symptoms were "extremely mild" in the initial patients
she saw.
They reported being tired and having body aches and pains.
They did not have a bad cough or the loss of taste or smell
as people with other versions of COVID have experienced.
This was observed from a small group of patients, though.
So doctors aren't sure how Omicron
will affect a wider population.
This variant has a large number of mutations according
to the World Health Organization,
meaning Omicron is significantly different from other strains
of COVID.
Researchers don't know if it could still
infect people who've recovered from other versions
and have natural COVID immunity.
Or if Omicron can infect people who've
received a COVID vaccine.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson
says it can affect those who've been fully vaccinated.
And his government is one of several
that have put new restrictions on travelers
from Southern African nations.
Many of the Omicron cases so far have
been linked to South Africa and the countries around it.
DAVID MCKENZIE: More and more countries
are confirming cases of this troubling variant,
particularly across Europe.
Now, several of those people confirmed
to have the Omicron variant have traveled from Southern
Africa where I am sitting.
Scientists here have been angry at the swift travel bans being
put in from across the world, including the UK
and on Monday, the US.
There was a discussion between the Secretary of State
of the US, Antony Blinken, and his counterpart
here in South Africa.
Blinken praised South African scientists,
saying that their swift description
and alert of this variant should be a model
for the rest of the world.
But the South African government says that in some way
they are being punished because of their "excellent
scientists."
There is now a race to figure out how bad this variant is.
Will it have breakthrough infections with the vaccine?
Will it go through immunity from previous infections?
We just don't know.
There are some indications it's more transmissible.
And the cases are rising fast here in Gauteng
province of South Africa.
But a lot is still unknown as more and more
countries shut this region off.
David McKenzie, CNN Johannesburg.
CARL AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia.
What US city is believed to be the source of the retail term
Black Friday--
Chicago, Illinois?
Indianapolis, Indiana?
New York, New York?
Or Philadelphia, Pennsylvania?
[beeping]
In the 1960s, police in Philadelphia
reportedly used the term to describe
the shopping and sports mayhem that hit
the city after Thanksgiving.
Traditionally, the day after Thanksgiving
is one of the busiest days on the US shopping calendar.
So the term Black Friday has also
been used to describe when retail stores
move into the black, meaning they
show a profit for the year.
It makes sense that store traffic, the number of people
shopping in person increased more than 47%
this year over last year when more stayed
home because of COVID concerns.
But according to Sensormatic Solutions,
a retail analytics and operations company, this year's
Black Friday store traffic was still 28% lower than it was
in 2019 before the pandemic.
Observers believe it's because people started shopping sooner
this year and spread out their buying instead of concentrating
it on just one day.
Returns are inevitably part of this process.
- Free returns.
They're customer's insurance policy for shopping online.
But what happens to those returns
after you give them back might surprise you.
ALBERT PALACCI: So customers really believe that the product
just goes into the black hole or ends up being
resold to another customer.
In many instances, that's not the case.
- In reality, many of these products never return anywhere.
Instead, they may end up here or even here.
JASON GOLDBERG: You know, easily 25% of all these returns
get destroyed.
- In fact, returns have become such a headache for retailers
that in some cases they're just refunding customers
and letting them keep or donate the unwanted items.
JASON GOLDBERG: The cost of getting the product back
from the customer is much higher than traditional logistics
of getting the product to the customer.
- Turns out, free returns are far from it.
JASON GOLDBERG: There's a very large disparity
between the amount of returns that
happen from consumers that buy products
online versus in the store.
In a brick and mortar store, we typically get somewhere
between 5% and 10% returns.
But online, we get North of 30% returns.
- In 2020, the Coronavirus pandemic pushed online shopping
and returns to record highs.
CBRE, a commercial real estate service,
estimates that Americans will end up returning $70 billion
worth of online purchases post-holiday season.
That's a staggering 73% growth from the previous five year
average.
Here's why that's a problem.
LINNE FULCHER: The entire returns
in business in and of itself is just extremely complex.
- Big retailers already use data to improve the shopping
experience on the front end.
Walmart believes data should play a bigger role
in the returns process too.
LINNE FULCHER: We're constantly digging into the data
to understand why customers are bringing stuff back.
And we actually can solve a bigger portion
of the end of the lifecycle of the product
by stopping the return from ever occurring.
So if I know that I have an item that is low quality,
we work with the manufacturer to fix it or we quit selling it.
- That's because accepting a return
isn't always easy either.
A warehouse optimized for fulfilling orders
now has to receive a product and inspect it.
Then someone needs to decide whether it can be resold
or not.
In the end, an online return can require
up to 20% more space and labor than one made in store.
Those costs are part of why Optoro, a return solution
company, estimates that returning a $50 item
can cost a retailer 59% of its sale price.
Often, the math just doesn't add up.
LINNE FULCHER: Look, the best return
is the one that never happens.
When it does happen, it's about stopping the return
or finding alternate ways where the customer
brings it back to handle the item to handle the return.
- And that's where liquidators come in.
ALBERT PALACCI: So this is a product that
came in one of these pallets.
- Liquidators, like this one, are
the middlemen between retailers and resellers.
ALBERT PALACCI: We sort, organize,
process and figure out methods to get them to the right home.
And that's really what we do here.
- They buy returned merchandise, then sought and evaluate it
before auctioning it to discount stores
and authorized resellers.
ALBERT PALACCI: You'd be able to resell them at a profit
because you would be purchasing them at a real fraction
of what the actual cost is.
- But some returns never make it to a liquidator.
ALBERT PALACCI: Products ending up in landfills,
customers don't really even think about as
part of the purchase process.
- Every year, returns produce an estimated $5 billion
pounds of waste in landfills.
- It's generally risky to remind consumers
how potentially wasteful their consumerism is.
So in general, retailers are hesitant to lean
too heavily into those kind of awareness campaigns.
- The solution is complicated.
But Walmart, for one, says online shopping
could actually help reduce the number of returns made.
LINNE FULCHER: If the customer goes online and tells me
I'm returning this item for these reasons,
I'm more apt to harness the information
than I am if you just walk into a store and drop it off.
- And it's not just data.
Tools like better sizing predictions for clothes
and shoes can help reduce the likelihood a customer
purchases the wrong size.
AI chat bots can help answer customers'
questions quickly and keep labor costs down for retailers.
Even augmented reality is helping customers try
out products before they buy.
[music playing]
CARL AZUZ: It's been said that you've got to learn
to crawl before you walk.
But this toddler in China is pretty good at snowboarding.
And she isn't walking well yet.
The girl isn't even a year old.
Her parents say they were amazed when they just tried putting
her in snowboarding shoes and then saw her stand up
and start sliding.
She wears protective gear inside of her snow suit.
And at 11 months, she's doing this and seems to be loving it.
Is it insanity?
It is infanity.
Critics might say it is just her folks vanity.
But she's got skis.
Show a little humanity.
Shredding the gnar with no need for inanity.
Easy to see and to be a big fannity.
Grommet or toddler, part of the planity.
Winter wonder kids search the whole land of the Earth.
She's the youngest on its snowy canopy.
Time for the shout-out.
We want to recognize Carthage high school today.
Thanks to the students and teachers
of Carthage Texas for your request on our YouTube channel.
My name is Carl Azuz.
Thank you so much for watching.
That's it for CNN.