As a consumer, do you think about a store’s return policy before you buy an item? More than 66% of respondents in a survey say that they look at the return policy before making a purchase. That speaks a lot about the value of consumerism that we now see. People are smarter with their money. They don’t spend on businesses that do not value their rights and experiences. They rarely support only for-profit businesses.
So if you’re running a business, you might want to take a look at a reverse logistics platform. These services should help you create a return policy that your customers will love. If you make your return policy customer-centered, there’s a good chance that these customers (you should have already lost) will come back to make another purchase.
Higher Product Returns Means Higher Product Sales
If you have high product returns, this means that there’s also a huge number of people shopping from your store. Returns are only part of your net profit. They don’t make up the whole profit margin. The higher your product returns are, the higher the number of customers you have. And that’s a good thing. It means that there are more opportunities for you to make sales and market your products.
Look at returns as a natural part of the shopping experience. If you’re selling footwear and clothing, you aren’t even losing these items. You can resell them again at a slightly lower price. At the same time, you’ve already garnered the loyalty of the original customers who returned the items to you. These customers will come back and make purchases in the future. Your new customers (the buyers of the returned products) will also be impressed with the discounted items.
Returns Can Mean That You’re Doing a Great Job
Hesitant customers will buy from your store than others if they see that you have a great return policy. Those who are not decided on the items they want to buy want to be assured that they can get their money back. They will be more decided to buy from you again in the future if they experience how you make returns easy for them. So although you initially do not make a sale because the product is returned, you gain a loyal customer who’s going to purchase in the future.
Returns Are Part of Your Marketing Strategy
Researchers experimented wherein they put a value on the return policy more than the ability of the business to make a profit. They focused on promoting the return policy of the business. As a result, consumers flocked to try buying the products, knowing that they could return those products and get their money back. Those who enjoyed the products did not return them (that’s profit). Those who did not gave them back to the company. As a result, the business was able to earn a profit while turning others into loyal customers.
If you look at the return policy as something disruptive to your business, then customers will see it like that, too. They want to support a business that values their experience and rights as consumers. Treat your return policy as a marketing opportunity, and your business will reap the rewards.
