Returns: The value conundrum
February 14, 2019
February 14, 2019
With the rise of e-commerce, returns have become an integral part of the digital customer experience. Customers expect disposable digital, want access to the New and are time poor.
This has led to significant disruption in how consumers shop and a growing demand for fast, free and frictionless returns. Savvy e-tailers are adjusting processes and policies to take advantage of these new models which is driving surprising growth.
Given the market growth at stake, it is easy to see why e-tailers have evolved from considering returns a necessary evil to a key way of providing exceptional outcomes for their customers. These new approaches focus on driving competitive advantage with returns as a lever to improve conversion, basket size, retention and Net Promoter Scores.
Post and parcel organisations that position themselves as the returns partner of choice for retailers, delivering seamless interaction between them and their customers, also stand to achieve significant gains.
60%
of consumers review a returns policy before buying.
82%
of consumers consider the returns policy to be important when making an online purchase.
Adapting to the unique and individual needs of an ever more diverse customer base – and, critically, doing so at speed and scale–requires an agile, adaptable organisation with a seamlessly integrated ecosystem.
Forming new ecosystem relationships with retailers that embrace returns as a necessary part of their business model will help post and parcel organisations embed themselves in the evolving delivery ecosystem, as innovative startups enter and disrupt the industry.