Your planning for this year’s peak holiday season is well underway. One area that often gets less attention is ecommerce returns processing. If it’s inefficient it will hurt both profitability and the customer experience. Here are 12 ways to get your returns operations ready for the upcoming peak period in November and December.
While shoppers love free ecommmerce returns, they can be a logistical and financial nightmare for retailers, forcing them to rethink processes to offset pre- and post-return losses. This is causing more companies to seek technology solutions for reverse logistics as well as auction marketplaces for disposition of goods.
Amazon, vaunted for its free two-day shipping with Prime membership and free returns, has apparently been shutting out some shoppers based on how often they return purchases, according media reports. See what the reaction was and what Amazon said in response.
As merchants search for ways to contend with the behemoth of Amazon – which accounted for about half of ecommerce sales in 2017 – many are focusing on the last mile, returns and outsourcing to battle back. This MCM Outlook report, based on our annual survey of Multichannel Merchant readers, looks at trends and stats in all three areas.
Nearly a year after signaling changes, iconic outdoor clothing manufacturer L.L. Bean is now limiting its returns window to a year after purchase and requiring proof of purchase. See why the company made the move, and how some customers are reacting.
What goes out must often come back, and this year is expected to set another record for returned goods after the holiday season, according to Optoro, a firm that specializes in reverse logistics. The company estimates $90 billion worth of holiday gifts will be returned.
Feeling Amazon’s pinch, retailers are under intense pressure to get shipments right every time. To get the level of performance they need from suppliers, they turn to chargebacks. But for suppliers, they’re a margin killer and drag on your business. Here are 7 steps to help you limit their impact.
A startup company is looking to ease a chronic ecommerce pain point – returns – by enabling customers to bring unwanted items to a nearby mall for fast processing and credit, even if the seller doesn’t have its own stores. See what Happy Returns has been up to and what its plans are for the future.
Kohl’s said it will begin accepting and processing Amazon returns for free at 82 stores in Los Angeles and Chicago starting in October. The company will pack and ship eligible returns to Amazon processing centers.
Looking to simplify operations for small- to medium-sized merchants and drive new business for itself, UPS this week launched Returns Manager, a tool that allows shippers without their own returns infrastructure to make the process smoother and easier for their customers.