Jul 12 2022

Keep-It Returns: 4 Risks and How to Mitigate Them

A keep-it return—the practice of refunding or replacing a consumer’s purchase without requiring that the item be returned—has been an unpublished option that retailers have used at their discretion for many years. The decision is gaining popularity due to the....

Mar 17 2022

Retail Returns: Your Problem Isn’t Logistics

Overview “Sell to your consumers wherever they want to shop” was the philosophy behind much of the current expansion in retail. Store and ecommerce channels were designed to make buying easy. Receiving and processing returned merchandise, however, was a....

Feb 28 2022

8 Thorns That May Be Harming Your Ecommerce Return Experience

In the fable “Androcles and the Lion,” a boy removes a thorn from a lion’s paw and gains the lion’s loyalty for life. Recently, our team of researchers vetted the ecommerce return process at 55 omnichannel retail chains in search of thorns. They found eight....

Dec 06 2021

5 Ways Siloed Shopper Data Complicates Your Sales and Return Transactions

Shoppers typically think of a retailer’s ecommerce site and brick-and-mortar location as extensions of the same store. They may shop through a single channel or buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS) or buy-online-return-in-store (BORIS). Regardless, they expect....

Nov 18 2021

How to Inspire Shopper Loyalty During the Returns Process

Think ahead to January. While the holiday decorations are still decking your store aisles, the post-holiday return scene at retail stores of all sizes can be even busier than the pre-holiday weeks. And the atmosphere is different as consumers are hyper....

Nov 04 2021

A Day in the Life of the Return Counter

The Return Counter is often the keystone to a consumer’s experience with your retail locations. It’s the proverbial fork in the road along the shopping journey, where one path leads to satisfaction and the other to frustration. It’s also where smart retailers....

Oct 04 2021

How to Handle the Pressure of Today’s Omnichannel Retail Landscape

2020 changed everything, and 2021 continues to bring us new learning. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the retail industry in ways still to be determined, but one thing we know for sure is that the way retailers do business – and how consumers shop – has....

Aug 11 2021

Video: Omnichannel Risk: Fraud, Abuse, Returns, and More

Now that many more consumers are exhibiting true omnichannel behavior—starting the shopper’s journey in one channel and completing it in another—the risk control teams are faced with unfamiliar situations. The zigging and zagging between different transaction....

May 26 2021

Retail Returns: Who’s in Charge of the Experience?

Executive Overview If your company doesn’t already have an executive with overarching power to be in charge of the entire returns experience, you’re not alone. Very few do despite the important role the return experience plays in the consumer journey,....

Jan 18 2019

What Kinds of Employee Fraud Does AI Catch?

Employee theft and fraud in the retail industry has been well-documented for decades. The most recent National Retail Security Survey (NRSS) from the National Retail Federation places the 2018 cost employee fraud at $1,203.16 on average with a median of $700.....

Carrie Cassidy, Director, Marketing, Appriss Retail