Product Returns

Historically, most retailers view returns as a plague on their business. Not only do you lose the sale, but you pay for the privilege of your customer returning the unwanted merchandise to you. The National Retail Federation’s 2015 annual survey of North America retailers found that $260 billion worth of merchandise was returned last year.…

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Last year’s holiday season saw more than $626 billion in sales, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF), with $105 billion coming from online and other non-store sales. However, despite shoppers’ good intentions, they didn't always find the perfect gifts for their loved ones. This resulted in billions of dollars worth of returned merchandise. As…

Learn more about why Apple Pay becoming available on the web is a potential game changer for online retailers; what Staples is doing to compete in today's instant gratification economy; and an unintended consequence for retailers’ generous return policies — lower pay for store associates.

Anyone who has shopped for clothing online has done it — ordered more items than they really want with the intention of sending some back. E-commerce has made it easy for consumers to be indecisive without financial consequence — at least for the shopper. For retailers, it’s a different story. Free shipping and returns aren't just…

If you’re looking to increase your e-commerce sales, you might have to do something that seems really counterintuitive: Institute an amazing returns policy that makes it super easy for customers to return what they purchase. “What?” I can hear you exclaim in disbelief. “How would letting people return what they purchase help us make more…

Retail product returns (i.e., reverse logistics) are a crucial component of the overall relationship between customer and retailer. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), Americans returned $260 billion in merchandise last year, a 66 percent increase from five years ago, and a quarter of that was during the holiday season. The significant increase in…

If you have buyer’s remorse over your potentially combustible hoverboard, Amazon.com has your back. The online retailer is offering full refunds to customers who bought hoverboards from it, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a statement this week. The decision follows continuing reports of the self-balancing devices’ batteries overheating and catching fire.

With the holiday season now over, the joys of increased consumer spending, materialism and holiday spirit are quickly overshadowed by a spike in product returns. At these times, customer service agents can often be stretched thin and should be amply supported to maintain not only their own sanity, but customers’ as well. In order to…

And the problem is only getting worse. Some shoppers make it a sport to scam retailers after the holiday season by making fraudulent returns. That can take the form of returning stolen goods, bringing back used items without a receipt or collusion with store employees. Either way, holiday return fraud is expected to cost retailers…