E-commerce return rates have never been bigger, having grown by 95% over the past five years, while return deliveries are estimated to cost businesses $550 billion by 2020. WBE wanted to investigate this trend further, and paired their own research with data from Optoro (a returns optimization platform), UPS, the Reverse Logistics Association, PostNord, and noted commerce sites like nasdaq.com and shopify.com.
Online fashion giant ASOS, for example, estimates that 25% of UK women’s orders are returned, with this estimate rising to a massive 70% for orders in Germany. In December 2018, the company issued a profit warning citing increased discounting as part of its poor performance – a symptom of unmanageable return rates.
Key takeaways from the research and visualized on the infographic:-
- Clothing and footwear is returned most, 75% of post-holiday returns fall into the clothing and accessories category.
- Electronics (27%) and shoes (23%) come second and third, meaning that clothing is returned nearly three times as much as the next two most prevalent product ranges, tipping the scales against the industry.
- Germans return over half (52%) of their online purchases, making them the most fickle consumers in Europe.
- Nearly 60% of people say they return products because they are defective– indicating that quality control is essential to reduce return rate.
- 71% of mobile purchases are influenced by emails from the retailer.
Infographic proved by Website Builder Expert
