Get Ready For The E-tail Boomerang

[mandy]

Online retailers agree that it's better to give than receive, yet they stand to receive more than most. Santa will barely have time to shuck his boots for his slippers before the merchandise misfits begin a return journey to the warehouse to wreak havoc on the season's sales numbers. "The reality is that returns are nearly always higher for e-commerce sales than for store sales, but that's just the nature of the beast," ...

"Usually more robust information on product detail pages, color matching and live chat are all tools that can help consumers get more information about a product, which -- if effective -- can help to prevent returns,"...

full article: http://ecommercetimes.com/story/Avoiding...60783.html

[mandy]

A related article on holiday return fraud:

"Return fraud," as this behavior is known, includes returning stolen merchandise, merchandise bought with fake or stolen credit cards, and items backed up with fake receipts.

Nearly 9 percent of holiday returns this year are expected to be fraudulent, costing retailers an estimated US$3.7 billion, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF).

Much of what Penberthy sees is people asking for cash refunds on merchandise purchased for less from a discounter or online.

"Wardrobing" -- wearing purchased clothing once and returning it -- is another big problem. That's what Steve Phillips, manager of J.C. Penney in Ventura, gave as an example of what he's seen people try to do. ..

full article: http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/60774.html

[BellisimaJ.]

"Wardrobing" -- wearing purchased clothing once and returning it -- is another big problem. That's what Steve Phillips, manager of J.C. Penney in Ventura, gave as an example of what he's seen people try to do. ..

That's a problem all year in retail. I don't know what the percentages are in ecomm, but I suspect that they are lower in that category of return fraud.

[sneakymagenta]

I fucking hate returns. 

[BellisimaJ.]

I always did too, sneaky.