Is My High Product Return Rate Due To Incorrect Product Information?

By Shamanth Shankar, Riversand Technologies

Product Returns have become an accepted part of the shopping process for those retailers who have an established a digital presence, representing at least 30% of all the products ordered online. As a shopper, this sounds pretty reasonable if we take into consideration the need to try and test what we buy, but perhaps retailers can do more to reduce this rate. In comparison, only 8.89% of goods bought in brick-and-mortar shops have been returned during the last year. It is estimated that during 2016, Americans have returned $260 billion worth of merchandise (a 66% increase from five years ago).

So why did people return the goods they bought during the last year?

• 20% received a damaged product
• 22% of the products received looked different compared to what was advertised on the website
• 23% received the wrong item (product data and customer information wasn’t accurately transmitted to logistics)
• 35% had other reasons which included:
  • product dissatisfaction (incorrect size, lack of measurements, poor description, lack of pictures/videos)
  • buyer’s remorse
  • false advertising, the product didn’t do what it promised
  • wardrobing/fraud