How to best prepare your returns process for the holidays

The busiest time of the year is here again: Black Friday!
Sinterklaas and Christmas mean an enormous boost in sales for most online stores, alongside a large number of returns and potentially a lot of extra work.

How do you deal with this cleverly as an online store? How can you ensure as many sales as possible while at the same time limiting your loss in turnover and time due to returns? 

Madness around the holidays: A few facts 

The number of sales and returns skyrocket around the holidays. Research by Shopify showed that no less than 30% of online orders are returned during this period. For the fashion industry specifically, this can even exceed 50%.

January 2nd is known as the day of returns. This day was even declared 'Takeback Thursday' in the UK this year and yielded an average of 72% more returns than on an average day.

Stress-free holidays 

Fortunately, this peak in returns doesn't have to lead to chaos, and eventually loss for your online store. In fact, by responding strategically to this effect, returns can be significantly reduced, or even converted into new sales.

We therefore recommend every online store to be well prepared for the holidays and to consider the following tips for more sales, satisfied customers and a stress-free team.

Make exchanging more attractive than returning 

Because many consumers place orders for friends and family during the holidays, it is more likely than usual that products are being ordered that end up not being to the receiver's liking or do not fit.
Since this is a difficult aspect to prevent, it's a fact that this results in an increase in returns for most online stores.

However, a return does not have to be final. To avoid loss of turnover, it is therefore advisable for online stores to actively promote exchanges.

You can do this by: 

• Offering to send the replacement item immediately upon exchange, instead of waiting for the original item to be returned. 
• Offering a free return for an exchange. Is there no exchange?
  Then the customer pays for the return shipment himself. This creates a clear incentive to look further in your online store.
• Offering an extra discount or a coupon to customers who order a replacement product upon return. 
  

The more attractive you make the exchange of a product, the more customers you will retain and the more sales you will make in the end. Returnista helps you to make exchanges an available option during the returns process. With our links to all major platforms we can make a suitable proposal for the exchange directly based on the given reason for the return. If, for example, the product is too large, they will immediately check the real-time stock for a smaller size. This way you retain a large number of customers. 

Use a digital return form

Keep the return process as simple as possible. As we wrote in our earlier blog on optimizing the return process, a simple return process results in more sales and saves an online store a lot of time and money.

A nice way to simplify the returns process is by using a digital return form. This is an online form that can easily be linked to your online store via Magento 2, Shopify, Lightspeed or a custom integration, with which the client can register a return online within a few minutes.

A digital return form has a lot of advantages. For example:

• All data is registered centrally and online, making it easy to be retrieved.
• Deadlines, such as a final return date, are automatically applied. Has this date expired? Then the customer simply cannot register a return. This is a simple step to reduce returns
• Online registrations make it easy to collect data and analyze patterns. In addition, return reasons at product level help you to better understand why a product is being returned frequently. 
• An online return form makes it easy to make special offers during the registration of a return. For example, consider the actions described earlier to promote exchanges. 
• Use this time as a means to provide service if desired. Does the customer indicate in the returns process that he or she has received a defective product? Then this is the perfect moment to make the customer happy again with a replacement product and/or a free return.  
• You can offer printerless options by giving customers a bar code on their phone, making printing a label a thing of the past.
  

Returnista is happy to help you with getting a grip on your returns process. Take a look at this page to see which features might be of interest to you.

Limit customer contact with clear online communication  

Have you decided to change your returns policy during the holidays? Then make sure all new rules and deadlines are clearly communicated on as many channels as possible.

Place important information on your website, on social media and send it around in an email. 

Think about it: 

"Doyou want your purchase on Christmas Day? Then place your order before December 22, 23:00".

Or..: 

"Would you like to exchange your product? Between 15 December and 15 January, we will ship your replacement item immediately, instead of after receipt of a returned item".  

Such reports not only significantly reduce the number of customer contacts, but also generate additional orders. After all, when a customer sees a deadline approaching, they are more likely to order immediately. 

Offer insurance for expensive gifts 

The gifts ordered around the holidays can be expensive. If products are damaged during the returns process, the customer is responsible for this. It may therefore be wise as an online store to proactively offer insurance. This prevents dissatisfied customers and increases the chance that customers will place another order. 

Insurance can easily be built into a returns portal and is cheaper than you might think.

Analyze and prepare for next year 

Especially during busy times, it is extremely important to collect as much data as possible and analyze what is going well and what is not. After all, the more you learn about the course of your return process, the more effectively you can organize it. This will benefit you all year round

Therefore, please keep the following data accurate: 

• The number of orders and returns per day 
• Which products are being returned and which are not
• What are the reasons for a return 
• Which special offers (e.g. a coupon) customers prefer and which ones they don't 
• Which customer questions are most frequently asked to customer service
• Which products customers are happy with and with which ones they're not satisfied 
• What challenges do employees of your online store have to deal with during the holidays
  

All this data is shown in the Returnista dashboard.

Prepare for the holidays with Returnista  

Do you need help setting up your returns process for the holidays? Returns are no longer a sore point with Returnista. Increase customer satisfaction and reduce your costs. Do you also want a returns portal in the style of your online store, just like Decathlon, Loavies and ASOS? Request a demo on our website.