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ONLINE SALES RETURNS LIMITED BY DIFFICULTY IN RETURN PROCESS

Source: CyberAtlas

Posted on December 26, 2000

      A study by PricewaterhouseCoopers found that few shoppers actually return items purchased from online sites and those that do are not so dissatisfied with the return process that it adversely affects future shopping behavior with that specific retailer.

      According to PricewaterhoouseCoopers, only 4 percent of online purchasers reported returning their most recent online purchase and 29 percent have ever returned a non-business product purchased from an online shopping site.

      However, 41 percent of online purchasers have wanted to return a product purchased from an online shopping site, but decided that it was just too much of a hassle.

      The PwC study found the most common complaint among Internet users with regard to returns is having to pay for return postage. When asked to identify the three biggest problems associated with returning online purchases, two-thirds of Internet users identified having to pay for return postage.

      Nearly half of respondents identified the fact that returning an online purchase requires a trip to the post office, UPS or FedEx pick-up location. Not being able to return products to a store came in as the third biggest problem, demonstrating the inherent advantage enjoyed by multi-channel retailers.

      Nearly half of respondents expect most online retailers to provide the option of returning products to a local store. This factor was significantly more likely to be identified by Internet users who wanted to return an online purchase, but decided that it was too much of a hassle.

      Not being able to return a product to a brick and mortar store is clearly a hassle for some online purchasers.

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