78% of online customers rated a retailers’ return policy as “extremely important” or “very important” when selecting an online retailer (source).
52% of customers don't buy direct due to return hassles (source).
46% of direct customers purchased less frequently due to a poor returns experience (source).
Overstock.com, Inc. is an online "closeout" retailer offering discount, brand-name merchandise for sale over the Internet. The company offers its customers an opportunity to shop for bargains conveniently, while offering its suppliers an alternative inventory liquidation distribution channel. Understanding that a positive returns experience increases customer satisfaction and loyalty, Overstock.com selected Newgistics SmartLabel and Returns Center to make the returns process as easy and convenient as the point-and-click shopping experience, resulting in more than a 50% reduction in return-related customer service calls.
Read the entire Overstock.com success story.
Benchmark Brands Steps Up Their Returns
Benchmark Brands is a $75 million a year direct- to-consumer company that has built its business on customer service and superior merchandise. It is imperative that an easy to use returns process is in place for both its online and catalog shoppers. Unfortunately, without an intelligent returns management solution the returns process was becoming a more complex ingredient in the supply chain, and worked against Benchmark Brands in its efforts to retain customer loyalty. Prior to implementing Newgistics Intelligent Returns Management solution, Benchmark Brands found that they were experiencing inefficiencies due to the lack of insight into reverse logistics operations.
Read the entire Benchmark Brands success story.
Wishing to meet demands from customers for a more convenient and easy-to-use returns system, Appleseed’s began the SmartLabel implementation in February 2004. Returning merchandise through the use of Newgistics’ SmartLabel is nearly effortless, which was especially important for Appleseed’s considering their customer base. Appleseed’s provided their customers with the ability to return merchandise from their own homes by simply detaching the preaddressed bar coded SmartLabel from their order summary, affixing it to their package and dropping it off anywhere in the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) mail stream, including their front door. SmartLabel’s dynamic barcode links the package to the customer’s invoice and provides package visibility to Appleseed’s early in the returns process. This enables customer service representatives to proactively address customers’ exchange or credit needs, resulting in increased customer satisfaction and loyalty and improved employee morale.
Read the entire Appleseed's success story.
If The Shoe Doesn’t Fit…(Road Runner Sports)
... Road Runner was struggling to handle shoes and apparel returned by customers who had ordered the wrong size online or from a catalog. Customers would put the shoes in a box and send them back and would contact Road Runner’s call center to find out when to expect a refund or replacement. The problem: Customer service representatives didn’t know, even after the customer told them when and how the product was returned. “We couldn’t tell where the product was,” said Jennifer Melzer, customer care manager. Even when customers used express and delivery services such as UPS and FedEx, the tracking information was “not always reliable or complete”, she said.
