Jul 25 2022

Sustaining Profitability and the Environment: A Retail Necessity

COVID-19 has had a substantial impact on all industries, and retailers, in particular, are still struggling to make sense of changing consumer dynamics and new shopping realities. This article is not about this societal crisis, but another more slow-moving....

Jun 29 2022

Will BOPIS and BORIS Replace Delivery?

Covid-19 accelerated omnichannel shopping trends, such as BOPIS (buy-online-pickup-in-store) and BORIS (buy-online-return-in-store). Now retailers need to have a deep understanding of those consumer omnichannel purchase and return behaviors. Case in point,....

Apr 21 2022

Is Free Shipping Dead?

Everyone knows shipping is costly. Return shipping can be even costlier. In an effort to give consumers what they want, when they want it (aka good consumer service), retailers are running up costs for labor and packaging by shipping one item at a time. This....

Mar 21 2022

Return Rates Affects Everyone, Not Just Retailers

As a retailer, you know that the cost of returns is much more than the loss of a sale. Returns and return fraud have a cascading effect on your business’ revenue and profit. The National Retail Federation has compiled returns data for 2022 in a comprehensive....

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....

Feb 03 2022

Are Your Omnichannel Return Capabilities Falling Behind the Curve?

The past few years delivered unprecedented growth in online shopping and a corresponding explosion in return rates. Ecommerce returns are now two to three times greater than returns for brick-and-mortar purchases. In 2021, one out of five of online purchases....

Jan 20 2022

Omnichannel Returns: What Your P&L Can’t Ignore

You may have noticed that your consumers tend to initiate returns after their online purchases more frequently than after their in-store shopping. On average, returns for ecommerce transactions are two to three times more likely than purchases made in....

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....

Dec 02 2021

Insights from the Journey of a Returned Package

Retailers and consumers often think of the return process as straightforward. However, many unexpected roadblocks (both literal and figurative) can arise that affect both the retailer and the shopper. And research shows the financial impact of these....

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 15 2021

Reducing the Financial Impact of Holiday Returns on Profitability

From a financial perspective, every holiday season has its own twist – but two things are a given: retail yearly profits depend on solid holiday season sales, and consumers will be returning items after the holidays.