Despite all the attention paid to skyrocketing returns, most retailers in 2022 still treat them as simply the cost of doing business instead of as a strategic focus area and opportunity for a stepped-up customer experience, and the numbers of a new report bear out that approach.
For lower-priced products or some less expensive bulky items, returnless refunds can be cheaper than shipping the item back, restocking, selling and shipping again. But this also has its own risks, with the potential to encourage malicious shopper behavior and opening another avenue for scammers trying to score free stuff.
Can selfies help solve the nagging problem of apparel returns? That’s the assertion of Nosto, provider of what it calls a commerce experience platform. Of consumers surveyed in the U.S. and UK, 61% said if brands posted photos and videos online of actual shoppers wearing their products, it would cut down on the number of returns.
Home improvement shopping season is in full swing. Unfortunately, spring is also a sign that retailers are entering one of the most logistically challenging and costly returns seasons of the year. Here is a review of major returns issues following home improvement season, and what retailers can do to mitigate the fallout.
FloorFound, an Austin-based startup that provides the means for retailers to resell large, bulky returns, has raised $10.5 million in a new funding round to help drive its expansion both geographically and in terms of the categories it handles as it rides the recommerce wave.
PayPal is extending returns services through its Happy Returns unit for free to all PayPal Checkout merchant customers, while also naming Ulta Beauty as an in-store returns bar partner, adding 1,300 locations and bringing the total to more than 5k in the U.S. The returns portal is also localized to 8 languages for EU and Canada.
Narvar is letting retailers offer customers the convenience of home pickup of returns within one to 10 days for a convenience fee, a service that was piloted at 70 companies in Q4. The home pickup service is currently offered in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston, with plans to expand to about 100 more markets.
However unsatisfactory the returns process is now it gives businesses an incredible opportunity to build loyalty and delight customers. By optimizing it for convenience, and by taking steps to reduce the risk of returns fraud, you can create a better experience for customers to win and keep their loyalty.
For decades, studies show a high percent of customers feel ease of returning products impact their purchasing decisions. “Free” returns shipping makes shopping even more attractive. Who wants to buy a product that can’t be returned or carries onerous conditions? Here are 7 ways to lessen the profit impact of ecommerce returns.
Retailers lost $218 billion to ecommerce returns in 2021, at a rate of 20.8% of goods sold, according to a survey conducted by Apriss Retail for the National Retail Federation, up from 18.1% in 2020, while total retail returns came back at a rate of 16.6% or $761 billion, up from 10.6% last year.