Don’t let returns bring you down

With an influx of orders from holiday sales, online sellers must now face their dreaded shadows—an influx of returns.

Customers sending back items for refunds is inevitable for any online business, big or small.?

The National Retail Federation (NRF) reports that for every $1 billion in sales, retailers incur $165 million in merchandise returns.

In 2022, U.S. consumers returned 16.5% of merchandise purchases, costing retailers an estimated $816 billion in lost revenue, according to NRF.

Despite their inevitability as a whole, there’s still much that can be done to reduce the number of returns that come through your business.?

One method is optimizing product data.

Ensuring that data is accurate, up-to-date, and detailed helps customers make a more informed decision about their purchases.?

For example, if you’re selling apparel online, there’s a ton of extra information you can add to your product listings:

• Make sure that the title of your product is information-rich, and is easy to follow. Why title a product “Black Hoodie,” when you can call it “Men's Zip-Up Hoodie, Black, XL.”
• Make sure to include any special features about your products, like “waterproof,” “front pockets,” or “reflective.”
• Make sure to include the type of material, like cotton or polyester.
• Show a picture of somebody wearing the clothing. Lifestyle images often work great for apparel products.
• If you’re selling on marketplaces like Amazon, make sure to submit an accurate size guide, and if you’re selling on your own website, include one there as well. One brand’s large can be another brand's medium.?

Bonus Tip:?

• Allow customers to post product reviews! This will help you figure out what you should change in your listings to make things clearer. It will also inform other buyers about which variant of your product will work best for them based on what other customers recommend.?

Of course, there are other things you can do to reduce product returns, like being more stringent about which products can be returned, decreasing the return timeline, or even not allowing some promoted items to be returned at all.

You can also edit your return policy to limit the amount of cash refunded, or only allow for the product to be exchanged for another of your brand's products.

However, the more strict and unnecessary these changes are, the less positively your customers will view your brand if they decide a return is needed. At the end of the day, some returns are inevitable.?

When they do happen, and especially when they happen en masse, like right after huge shopping days, your order management system will need to be prepared.?

Using the right order management technology, like FeedAMP, can help you process orders more efficiently if you're selling on multiple marketplaces. FeedAMP can automatically retrieve return requests from major marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, and eBay, and insert them directly into your order management system. This can be a huge time-saver for both you and your customers.

More

If customers don't get their orders on time, they're more likely to cancel! Learn how order routing and splitting software can help you streamline order fulfillment.?

Read this blog to learn about even more ways to prevent shipping delays.