Nearly 60% of consumers have considered returning products, increasing sellers’ operating costs

The surge in e-commerce orders has led to an increase in returns and higher operating costs for sellers , according to a survey of global businesses and consumers .

More than 30% of retailers surveyed saw an increase in returns

Logistics provider GXO commissioned a research organization Statista to conduct the survey, which came to the above conclusions through a survey of 360 respondents and 4,000 consumers from companies of different sizes in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Spain. The National Retail Federation (NRF) also expects that global demand for reverse logistics will increase significantly, and NRF predicts that spending in this area will increase to US$604 billion by 2025.

72% of retailers surveyed are increasing their investment in returns management processes, and more than a quarter have recently invested in additional warehouse space . More than a third (36%) of e-tailers surveyed saw an increase in online returns in the past 12 months . Another 37% of retailers surveyed said returns have increased their operating costs.

At the same time , 42% of consumers surveyed said they had returned a piece of clothing online in the past 12 months. Nearly 60 % (57%) of consumers surveyed said they would consider returns in advance and make plans when shopping online .

A good return experience can promote repeat purchases

Dan Nevin, Global Retail Chief Revenue Officer at Doddle, a consumer fulfillment /returns technology platform, recently shared his experience on reducing e-commerce return costs : “ Quoting the results of the Doddle consumer survey, 75% of respondents believe that retailers should do more to improve their returns experience and that a good returns experience would make respondents shop at the same online store again . ”

Nevin advises retailers to take steps to restock or resell faster through digital channels and follow up with customers by contacting them appropriately after they receive their goods .

Nevin also said retailers should also treat different types of returns differently, use rules-based smart technology to reduce returns, collect return reasons , and make improvements . Other suggestions include digitizing the process of collecting return data and digitally pushing messages to customers at every stage of their return to create proactive communication.

Retailers

E-commerce returns

Operating costs