Retail goods bought online attract a than those bought at brick and mortar stores. As e-commerce inches higher as a proportion of overall retail commerce, that means returns are going to proliferate. These are the stark facts facing brands and stores.
What’s worse is that the returns process is an essential part of the much-valued customer experience, or CX as it is now called, and most businesses are exploring ways of making that experience a competitive advantage. Returns sit right at the nexus where giving customers what they want threatens profits and operational efficiency. Several technology and returns services companies are trying to figure out how to ease the pain while improving CX.
First off, there needs to be a clear awareness that returns are going to be an increasingly inescapable part of being a retailer. From the consumer side, American shoppers have always been notorious for returning goods they bought – 14.5% in 2023.
And it seems pretty reasonable to expect someone who is buying clothes they can’t try on in a changing room will indulge in “bracketing,” or buying multiple sizes, styles and colors so they can determine at home what works. From the retailer’s side, the trouble with returns of goods bought online is two-fold. First, those items have to be physically returned, and they’re still rarely brought into a physical store (if the retailer even has one), so there’s a transportation cost incurred.
Secondly, even then, the goods are unlikel.
