Confession: I am a serial online returner.<\/p>\n
As a working mother with a long commute, online shopping is more than a simple convenience \u2014 it makes my life possible. Bulky staples like paper towels and diapers are delivered to my doorstep each month. Last-minute toddler gear arrives regularly on rush shipping.<\/p>\n
But my mailbox is filled with almost as many items going back to retailers. My entire spring and summer wardrobe was purchased online \u2014 with at least 50% returned. In the next few weeks, I\u2019ll shop for my winter clothes the same way. Add in the online holiday shopping I\u2019ll be doing for friends and family, who may or may not want to keep the gifts I\u2019ve chosen, and I can feel retail and brand executives bracing themselves for the inevitable returns just from my online orders alone.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not just me. Nearly 90% of online shoppers have returned a purchase, according to a recent survey by Return Magic<\/a><\/u>. As shoppers of all ages tap into the convenience of online shopping, retailers are confronting the reality of consumers\u2019 preferences to buy online, then return, return, return \u2014 to the tune of billions of dollars in costs to retailers. Statista estimates return deliveries in the United States alone will cost $550 billion by 2020, 75% more than four years prior and that doesn\u2019t include restocking and inventory loss expenses.<\/p>\n Some have called these expenses a ticking time bomb<\/a><\/u>. But if online retailers can shift how they perceive the role returns play in the shopping journey, they don\u2019t have to be.<\/p>\n Instead of viewing returns as a follow-up to the buying process, retailers can win by thinking of returns as part of the shopping<\/em> process. This shift reveals deeper shopper insights into how consumers evaluate risk, convenience, and loyalty.<\/p>\n It\u2019s easy to say that the serial returners driving huge return costs are taking advantage of the system. Amazon has even banned the most extreme habitual returners, identifying us as bad for business.<\/p>\n But serial returners aren\u2019t taking advantage of the system, they\u2019re showing brands what an online shopping process looks like when you need to try before you buy. While shopping online is convenient, it leaves a lot of guesswork to the consumer on product quality, size and features. This leaves consumers with a certain level of risk, so it\u2019s no wonder 41% of consumers buy variations of a product with the intent of returning<\/a><\/u>. It\u2019s serial returners like me who don\u2019t think of paying for multiple sizes or variations online as akin to buying and returning. Instead, we think of it as a sort of refundable deposit to try something we haven\u2019t committed to yet.<\/p>\n Only brands and retailers that think the same way \u2014 considering returns as part of the larger buying experience \u2014 will avoid getting gouged by growing customer return habits. Andrew Bowden, senior manager of product marketing at TradeGecko<\/a><\/u>, hit this home in a recent interview with Shopify. \u201cThe most important question to ask when assessing your reverse logistics process,\u201d he said, \u201cis whether or not you\u2019re designing and optimizing the experience for the customer or your business \u2014 ideally it\u2019s a mix of both. When in doubt, default to the customer.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead of punishing or dissuading online shoppers who see returning merchandise as part of the purchase decision, why not embrace them? What would the online retail customer experience look like if we shift the way we think of a \u201creturn\u201d to a \u201ctry?\u201d<\/p>\n Some retailers are taking small steps in that direction, encouraging online customers to use their brick-and-mortar stores for returns or exchanges. Digitally native direct-to-consumer brands are going further: brands like ThirdLove<\/a> are redefining the experience to embrace how the need to try on shapes a shopping journey. ThirdLove is focused on fit; they incorporate an in-depth fit quiz before purchase and let customers return bras even after they\u2019ve already been worn and put through the laundry. While I was trying on my new bra at home, I texted with a ThirdLove \u201cFit Stylist\u201d for a new size recommendation. When I needed a new style, she provided the most seamless repackaging\/shipping logistics I\u2019ve encountered. Knowing this, I\u2019m guessing they have an air-tight reverse logistics process built for efficiency and minimal cost, too. Over the last six months I\u2019ve returned two bras. But I\u2019ve kept five \u2014 and become a serial repeat customer. That\u2019s a big deal when repeat purchases<\/a><\/u> drive a whopping 83% of apparel shopping journeys.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the more traditional retail brands that haven\u2019t quite figured this out yet. Their struggle with the cost of returns leaves customers guessing on how an item looks in real life, receiving multiple packages that can\u2019t be re-used, printing labels \u2014 and racking up costs to the retailer.<\/p>\n These brands look at serial returners as a problem to be combatted, but brands and customers both win if we shift how we perceive the role of returns in the online shopping journey. Because at the end of the day, we\u2019re not serial returners. We\u2019re just online shoppers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Confession: I am a serial online returner. As a working mother with a long commute, online shopping is more than a simple convenience \u2014 it makes my life possible. Bulky staples like paper towels and diapers are delivered to my doorstep each month. Last-minute toddler gear arrives regularly on rush shipping. But my mailbox is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2431,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"mrktblog-category":[41],"class_list":["post-2432","mrktblog-posts","type-mrktblog-posts","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","mrktblog-category-advantage-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhen Returns Become a Routine<\/h2>\n
Turning a Return into a Relationship<\/h3>\n