Blog
eCommerce

Return to Sender? The Deal With Returns in eCommerce

January 13, 2020 3 min read
The Christmas season is a frantic one for everyone involved, we can all agree there. But for those involved in shipping and delivering presents among other packages, it was one of the busiest so far.
Unlimit Experts
Your payment experts
Unlimit Experts
Your payment experts

According to recent news from Amazon, more than 3.5bn packages were shipped over this season. With double that to be shipped in 2022, which is 6.5bn over that one holiday season, which is mind-boggling.

But if there are so many billions of packages going one way, there are certainly going to be millions going back. That’s right, we’re talking about returns!

Returning to Sender? The Money Behind Returns

Over the holiday seasons of December, for example, package delivery services like UPS handled roughly 1 million returned packages on a daily basis, with a peak of nearly 2 million in early January.


eCommerce businesses are twice as likely to see products returned compared to brick and mortar stores.

As we’d expect as well, if you’re an eCommerce business, you’re twice as likely to get your fair share of returns, costing over $550bn in total for companies in the US alone.

Why is there such a huge number attached to eCommerce? Unlike brick and mortar, customers typically buy more than one size to find the best fit before returning the others, which makes perfect sense.

But for new, up and coming eCommerce platforms, with such a high cost associated with returns, having an easy to use returns and refunds policy sounds counterproductive right? Wrong.

Returning for the Returns [policy]

With all of this in mind, the real direction that eCommerce businesses need to go is catering to this very common behaviour, appealing to your customers in the process.

If anything, making the process easier is going to help your sales far more than you think! 62% of people surveyed by Dotcom Distribution in 2018 were more likely to buy from a retailer again if they offered free and easy returns.


The path of least resistance is the best plan for retailers when dealing with returns, with the majority of customers loving the brands that make it easier.

This number is night and day compared to the 69% of people that wouldn’t shop online if they had to pay to return their items.

So the easier return experience is one way of making sure your customers are the ones returning after their returns.

Well, it’s one thing to just finish up with the conclusion that the best attitude to returns is a quick and easy one. But it’s important to look deeper into who is refunding what and understanding the kind of value attached.

While the majority of online buyers will reliably be refunding something over a three-year span, if you’re an online retailer, it’s important to successfully segment your customer-base in order to find those with the power to really help boost your returns.


Easy buying, easy returns are all part of a growing expectation economy that retailers are slowly coming to champion.

How? By finding the most valuable or reliable sales on your platform, and divide it up along with the likelihood of returns from these customers. High transactions and reduced rates of return are what businesses like ReturnLogic see as the most profitable customers out there.

If you pair that up with a returns system that is easy to navigate and streamlined for your customer-base, the more inclined those same users will be to use your business. Having access to easy returns doesn’t essentially mean that they’re going to abuse it, either, it just gives them the peace of mind to know that it’s there, making them trust you even more.

Makes sense, right?

Returns and Refunds: The Unlimint Approach

Making a payment is just one side of the coin to us here at Unlimint, with refunds right there on the other side. So with such a sizeable need for quick and easy returns/refunds, we’re set up to give customers exactly that, letting eCommerce businesses truly endear themselves.

Any business using our dedicated dashboard will be able to process refunds in just a matter of clicks, making any return as easy as the initial payment.

We understand all too well that with eCommerce sites have to deal with a large number of refunds in the months of the holiday aftermath too. That’s why we also offer businesses an easy answer to this with batched returns and refunds.

So why use a payment system that has heavy lifting still attached? Switch to Unlimint and get customers returning thanks to your returns!


KEEP READING

Join Unlimit newsletter and get the highlights of upcoming events, fresh articles & special offers

You can unsubscribe in any time.
Read our Privacy Notice.

We’ve got all your details, thanks!