A Guide To Minimizing The Loss On Customer Returns

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As a retail organization, you must be prepared for the inevitable returns from your customers. Perhaps the return is a result of the customer making a mistake, or your organization might be in the wrong; the impact of returns is one that’s felt across the entire industry. While it’s unavoidable for organizations, it’s imperative that they attempt to limit the number of returns for the sake of decreasing their operational costs. With the help of this post and accompanying infographic, retailers should feel more prepared to both deal with these returns and aid in limiting them.

When considering the most common reasons for a return, atop the list are returns related to products not matching the description or image offered online. Receiving an item that does not live up to what was described or pictured is grounds for a return and every retailer understands that. However, in order to avoid these excess returns, retailers should edit any disingenuous descriptions or pictures on the product page. When photos of a product are non-enhanced, customers are better able to understand the product they’ll receive. This is particularly true of sizing, as mis-sized products contribute to upwards of 52% of total returns.

While many businesses hate dealing with returns, their sales are actually improved as a result of their free shipping and free return policies. While this may seem counterintuitive, more customers are willing to purchase products knowing they’re being shipped to them for free and if they’re unpleased with them they’ll be able to return them with ease. Often times customers receive the products they order and decide not to return them. This increases the retailers sales while also improving the relationship between the customer and the retailer.

Adjusting to the rise of online retail has also meant that retailers will have to accommodate to additional returns. The frequency of returns has risen ridiculously over the past year, though. Nearly a 70% increase over the past year has made tough issues for retailers to navigate through. As new scamming tactics arise, such as wardrobing or bracketing, retailers are left to find ways to protect themselves from these customers.

If these tactics weren’t enough for retailers to struggle with, they also have to be worried about fraudulent purchases. Sometimes customers will attempt to launder money from stolen credit cards through returns. Businesses without anti-fraud tools should invest in them, as they’re capable of blocking transactions from stolen cards. Then the retailer is able to offer refunds to the original cardholder. Reducing the costs of returns on retailers is also made possible through some of these tools. There are even organizations out there that offer such professional services, with tailor made solutions for your business.

Staying ahead of the crime curve when it comes to returns can be a real challenge. Luckily, with the help of the information found in this post and accompanying infographic, retailers should feel more comfortable spotting these schemes and defending against them. For more information on how to continue to protect your organization against these types of returns, consult the infographic included alongside this post. Courtesy of Signature Payments.