Why Customer Returns Haunt Ecommerce Retailers

One of the key challenge for ecommerce businesses till date has been meeting customers’ high expectations for shipping, which basically means Affordable and Quick. They want their order to arrive as quick as possible, but at the same time they want to have it at little or no shipping cost.

This is what we also see at Daraz where discounts around shipping fee tend to drive consumer behavior at large, but one thing which I still feel is problematic for most of ecommerce players specially in Pakistan is "??????????????".

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For several years, returns have been plagued under vague policies and disclaimers, complex logistics, mishandling of products, and miscommunication among the parties involved.

While most of the ecommerce players have confusing return policies, a fraction of them are open about accepting returns. But this chunk of retailers is also dependent on 3PL logistics partners in most cases, and any mess-up from logistics end directly hurts the customer and the brand.

In my opinion, returns continue to be tricky mainly due to:

? Additional logistics cost for return journey of the product - Retailers operating on thin margins are not open to compromising that on returns cost

? Lack of clear SOPs regarding Quality Checks and Return Claims confirmation

? Exploitation of Trust/False claims from customers, risk of potential fraud

? Customers not open to paying additional cost for returns, while retailers have reservations with providing free returns

Not offering free returns might help with reducing fraud cases, but it can also drive customers away, hurting the business in the long term.

To address this problem:

? The retailers should start by having clear communication regarding returns on their platforms

? Develop a reliable and exhaustive returns tracking framework so customers have visibility on how their return claims are being treated

?????? ?????? ?????? ?????????????? ???????? ?????? ???? ?????????????? ???? ???????????????? ???????? ?????????? is that a recent survey from Prosper Insights & Analytics found that 69% of consumers preferred conducting their 2023 holiday shopping returns in-store/physically. So, capitalizing on the omni-channel approach on returns might help in tackling this problem.

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