Happy Returns And Inmar Intelligence Make Merchandise Returns Easier For The Holidays
Oct 28, 2020,11:23am EDT
Happy Returns’ regional Return Hubs, sort, disposition, and process returns for participating retailers. All items bulk-ship inside eco-friendly, reusable boxes — leveraging low carrier rates and aggregated shipping for economies of scale.
E-commerce sales are expected to increase by 35.8% for the holiday season ($50 billion more than in 2019), reaching $190 billion for November and December combined. The value of returned items is projected to be $47 to $57 billion. An easy return process for digital purchases is of paramount importance to customers, but heavy returns straining the supply chain capacity is a large concern for retailers during the holiday shopping period. Happy Returns, a software and reverse logistics company specializing in comprehensive returns solutions, recently announced a partnership with Inmar Intelligence that will be a big win for the return conundrum from both a retailer and customer perspective.
The value of returned items is projected to be $47 to $57 billion, between 25%-30% of total e-commerce sales.
Higher e-commerce sales means higher online returns. Contributing factors in the shift to digital shopping are the ease and convenience of curbside and in-store pickup, occupancy limitations in physical stores and consumer discomfort over shopping in physical stores due to the pandemic. Order demand pre-holiday is already putting a strain on supply chain logistics for retailers and as the season continues into November and December, demand spikes will create more challenges. Holiday Season 2020: The Pandemic Edition Report by eMarketer revealed that 60% of retailers are concerned that shippers will cap deliveries during peak times and 49% of retailers have concerns about fulfillment centers keeping up with customer demand.
Holiday Season 2020: The Pandemic Edition Report by eMarketer revealed that 60% of retailers are concerned that shippers will cap deliveries during peak times and 49% of retailers have concerns about fulfillment centers keeping up with customer demand.
Returned products are a pain point for both retailers and customers and add package volume to an already-strained supply chain. National Return’s Day, this year on January 2, 2021, package volume will increase 19%. FedEx has been challenged to handle past peak volumes during holiday, especially going into December, however, David Sobie, CEO and co-founder of Happy Returns, said, “By having processing hubs on the east and west coasts, Happy Returns avoid relying on cross-country shipments, which reduces exposure.”
E-commerce returns are much higher than those from brick-and-mortar stores, and are a significant but necessary cost of doing business for online retailers. While returns vary greatly by category, online returns are about 25-30% of e-commerce sales whereas physical store returns hover between 8-10%.
The return process is a top concern for online shoppers. They want an easy return experience and 70% of consumers make a purchasing decision based on the return policy at the retailer; 60% of customers expect returns to be handled within one to seven days which puts further stress on retailers to meet these high customer expectations; 92% of customers will shop again if the returns were easy and most shoppers want to return items at a physical location without having to print, pack and ship returns back to the retailer.
When asked about keeping up with the influx of returns during holiday while maintaining a consistent experience for the customer, Sobie said, “Due to our distributed location model as well as the highly scalable, software-driven processes used in our hubs, Happy Returns can flex up to 3X our non-peak volume without meaningful changes to our operations.”
The return process is a top concern for online shoppers. They want an easy return experience and 70% of consumers make a purchasing decision based on the return policy at the retailer.
Inmar Intelligence, a leading data and tech-enabled services company running $129 billion in commerce through its platforms, has found that prior to the pandemic, 78% of shoppers reported a preference to return unwanted products in-person, and since the pandemic began, nearly 60 percent still prefer to return online purchases in-person.
Inmar Intelligence and Happy Returns announced an agreement promising to deliver the most comprehensive e-commerce returns solution available in the marketplace by creating an easier return process for shoppers and a more profitable one for retailers and brands. This partnership is in addition to Happy Returns’ recently announced collaboration with FedEx FDX -4.4% allowing the in-person return business to set up shop in more than 2,000 FedEx Office locations nationwide, bringing the total number of drop-off locations to 2,623 across the U.S.
According to Sobie, Happy Returns, with its partners, is the only company that powers all three return channels—which are: box-free, in-person returns through Return Bars, QR code returns in the retailer's stores, and returns by carrier—as well as also processing returned items and providing comprehensive reporting of items as they move throughout the entire process.
Retailers and brands with an e-commerce presence want to create a seamless and easy experience for the customer return process, optimize return-to-stock, reduce the cost of returns and minimize the impact of returns on the supply chain.
The new partnership will allow shoppers to use a branded returns portal to easily initiate returns, with the option for customers to return items, box-free and label-free, to one of Happy Returns’ 2,600+ Returns Bars around the country, which are physical drop sites located in retail stores.
The in-person drop-off process is convenient for the shopper and initiates an immediate refund or exchange. This process also provides a more environmentally friendly and cost-effective solution for e-commerce returns, as returned inventory is shipped to returns facilities in reusable containers instead of individual packages. Return options can include a return by mail for customers that do not want to visit a physical location.
Solving the return process for both customers and retailers will alleviate the pain points in the shopping journey and will create a more profitable and sustainable business model for retailers. Using technological advancements with data collection and efficient operational processes will minimize the negative impact of returns from a financial perspective. Optimizing returned stock back to the inventory can make a positive impact on sales. Happy Returns, Happy Customers, Happy Retailers.
Article was originally published here.