With the opportunity for so much online revenue at stake, it’s critical to delight consumers with optimized ecommerce packaging that delivers products without damage. Packaging enhancements need to go beyond functionality, using materials that can be reused or recycled. This is good for the business and the environment, and increasingly attractive to consumers.
Major 3PL Geodis has integrated Happy Returns into its Geodis eLogistics fulfillment division, enabling retail and ecommerce clients to extend the service to their end customers, providing another option for returning unwanted items and helping retailers track and manage the flow of returned goods. Retailers can initiate immediate refunds and the service offers box-free, label-free returns.
Even as more retailers are increasing thresholds for free returns shipping in the face of massive volume and steadily rising costs, 79% of consumers said they’d be more likely to make a repeat purchase from those offering free returns or exchanges, according to a new survey from solution provider Loop. 75% said they expect retailers to make new product suggestions based on their purchase.
Always a thorny issue for retailers, returns has turned into quite the conundrum in 2023. New solutions are sprouting up every day, but the rising costs have ballooned. Meanwhile customer expectations around are rising, so where are we now? To help answer that question, we talk to Brian Kilcourse of Retail Systems Research, in this Multichannel Merchant webinar.
A new app-based returns solution called ReturnQueen, which provides a concierge-like service where consumers can pay a one-time, monthly or annual fee and leave multiple returned items from different retailers at their door to be picked up, has expanded nationwide and is launching a B2B offering. The partners have been in discussions with midsize and enterprise level retailers.
A clear, comprehensive ecommerce returns policy is a great preventive measure. It helps customers understand how and when they can return products, acting as insurance for them and your business. However, there are other less obvious but nevertheless influential tactics you can and should employ. Here are seven more ways you can reduce returns, protect profits and improve customer satisfaction.
Outdoor co-op REI, high-end outdoor apparel/gear brand Arc’teryx, fashion brand Amour Vert, running supplier On and luxury brand Philip Lim stood out in the first recommerce leaders index compiled by Trove, as the growing category has added an estimated 100 programs in the past year.
Carhartt, a retailer of workwear apparel, has launched the first recommerce channel in its category, aiming to drive incremental revenue and attract consumers who hadn’t purchased from the company before, taking advantage of a burgeoning market favored by younger values-based shoppers.
A survey from shipping software provider Shippo showed that communication of average ecommerce shipping time is one of the top two things consumers want to see on a product or checkout page. Yet less than half of merchants provide that information to shoppers.
While ecommerce returns continue to soar and cost retailers both in terms of actual dollars and the bad customer experience, there are practical ways to reduce the rate, make the process more efficient and leverage the customer opportunity, attendees were told at the NRF 2023 Big Show in New York.