The Germans are probably the returns world champions. In no other country do customers return so many goods as in Germany. On average, and depending on the product group and survey method, every eighth to every fifth package ordered on the Internet is returned. Around 280 million parcels and 487 million items were returned last year. This causes total costs of more than 5.46 billion euros, as determined by the returns management research group at the University of Bamberg. …
One in five customers already plans to return a product after delivery when they make an online purchase – according to the study “Stadt, Land, Los” by the eCommerce Center (ECC) Cologne and Hermes Germany. Almost half of the shop visitors check how the respective online shop handles returns before placing an order and even make their own purchase decision dependent on it. Two-thirds of customers admit they will not shop again from an online retailer where they find the return process too complicated.
Accordingly, the issue of returns already plays a decisive role for online customers during the customer journey. If online retailers find the optimal solution for their customers here, they achieve increased customer loyalty and an increased return rate. Recent studies show that more than half of consumers would buy more from an online shop if returns were easier to handle. For online retailers, returns management is therefore not just a question of costs, organization and logistics, but also a question of customer acquisition and retention. In this respect, returns management offers enormous opportunities for your own profiling.
Source: bevh.org
