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Introduction

Have managing reverse logistics become a bane for your support team lately? You may want to revisit how they’re managing each order. From initiating a return to providing real-time tracking and timely pick-ups, there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes of online shopping. To help you optimize your reverse logistics operations and meet customer expectations, we’re going to take a look at ten such common returns management software challenges and show you how using smart solutions can help avoid them. Let’s go! 

10 Key Returns Management Challenges and Their Software-based Solutions 

Processing an ecommerce exchange or refund is much different than in store returns. From keeping tabs on the entire process, curating eligible returns, to ensuring the returns journey is convenient for customers, your team has a lot on their plate. By learning the significant challenges, you can implement smart solutions and offer better returns than competitors.

Top Key Returns Management Challenges

• Challenge No. 1: High Return Rates and Revenue Loss
• Challenge No. 2: Complex and Manual Returns Process
• Challenge No. 3: Lack of Real-Time Visibility in Returns
• Challenge No. 4: Return Fraud and Policy Abuse
• Challenge No. 5: Managing Cross-Border Returns
• Challenge No. 6: High Costs of Return Shipping
• Challenge No. 7: Complicated or Slow Return Process
• Challenge No. 8: Inefficient Restocking and Inventory Management
• Challenge No. 9: Lack of Integration with Other Business Systems
• Challenge No. 10: Difficulty in Analyzing Return Data for Insights

Challenge No. 1: High Return Rates and Revenue Loss

The first challenge in returns management process is high return rates. High return rates equal increased shipping costs and loss of potential revenue. Online retailers tend to experience more returns (especially in the electronics and fashion industry) than brick-and-mortar stores. 

Solution:

Introducing automated returns management solutions can help you eliminate manual errors and maintain high accuracy. Also, make sure your sizing charts include clear measurements with multiple metric system labels. Further, enforce strict quality checks that are evaluated throughly before they leave the warehouse. If needed, you can even leverage software to enforce return policies, only accept returns that match your given criteria, and automate refund processing. 

Challenge No. 2: Complex and Manual Returns Process

Adding to what we’ve said above, you must ensure that your returns are efficient right from the first step. Online retailers may only provide a support number that visitors have to contact to place a return order, hampering the average customer experience. Put simply, this is extremely time-consuming for both consumers and your support team. 

Solution:

Using a smart digital solution, your team can set up a returns portal that lets customers initiate returns without contacting anyone. If needed, you can even automate multiple processes that are error-prone, such as generating return labels (post-order placement) and processing refunds.

Challenge No. 3: Lack of Real-Time Visibility in Returns

The anxiety of knowing a return’s status is not very different from ordering a product for the first time. Customers want to know where their product is in real time. Keeping them in the dark can lead them to become frustrated and place unimaginable amounts of WISMO calls. 

Solution:

Having reverse management software enables you to set up a real-time tracking page that includes a parcel’s location information and all related updates. Additionally, you can send automated notifications at specific milestones and get a unified view of all returns (via a main dashboard) to manage them efficiently. 

Challenge No. 4: Return Fraud and Policy Abuse

A massively growing modern returns management process challenge is the infamous wardrobing technique. Here, customers temporarily use an item with its tag on and return it within your policy’s period. This practice more common in the fashion industry, where resale value is vital. What this does is hamper your bottom line and let people abuse your return policy. 

Solution:

With smart software, you can leverage AI-powered fraud detection algorithms to identify suspicious return patterns of specific consumers. Once you have precise customer data and learn know who’s exploiting your return policy, you can easily flag and prevent them from pulling another returns fraud. 

Challenge No. 5: Managing Cross-Border Returns

As a thumb rule remember this, if you’re prepared to deliver products overseas, then be prepared to receive items from them. International returns aren’t like domestic orders where you hardly need any paperwork done. Customs, duties, and taxes can and will drain your company’s time and finances. 

Solution:

Automated software from third party service providers can easily calculate all tax-related processing costs and assist you with filling out a CN22, CN23, or other customs forms. If possible, you may even be able to set up a local return center (similar to a fulfillment center) to efficiently organize all international returns. 

Challenge No. 6: High Costs of Return Shipping

No one understands the costs of return shipping better than online store owners. Regardless of whether you’re delivering within your country or overseas, reverse logistics can quickly eat a chunk of your profits and hurt your overall revenue, resulting in major financial losses. 

Solution:

To overcome rising shipping costs, you can leverage software to view and compare live carrier rates. In fact, some platforms may even provide extra discounts on specific courier partners, such as UPS and FedEx. 

Challenge No. 7: Complicated or Slow Return Process 

If your returns process is outdated and heavily relies on manual tasks for each step, expect high labor costs and a poor average customer experience. A quick return is one of the key steps to improving brand loyalty and encouraging repeat purchases.

Solution:

When your team uses digital returns solutions, they can automate various tasks that free up time and create workflows that lead to a hassle free returns process. Additionally, they can also send automated alerts during every step of the process to keep customers in the loop. 

Challenge No. 8: Inefficient Restocking and Inventory Management

Whenever a product is returned back to your warehouse, it must be restocked and kept track of (considering the return was made due to incorrect sizing/color and not damage). However, without a smart system, you may not be able to update these records efficiently and end up with inventory management issues that hurt your reverse logistics supply chain. 

Solution:

A robust returns management system will let you update inventory levels automatically whenever items are received at a warehouse. This can also include information on whether a product is resellable, or should be sent to waste/recycling/refurbishment process. 

Challenge No. 9: Lack of Integration with Other Business Systems

Without integrations, sharing data across multiple platforms, such as warehouse management system (WMS), enterprise resource planning (ERP), and your shipping software can be daunting and waste precious time, leading to delays in future growth to connect with other software.

Solution:

A smart returns management system can typically connect with various platforms, enabling you to exchange data easily. Further, they integrate with reputed ecommerce platforms like Magento and Shopify, allowing you to sync return orders instantly.

Challenge No. 10: Difficulty in Analyzing Return Data for Insights

Manually keeping track of all your return orders using just the dashboard can make it difficult for your team to evaluate ongoing trends. Providing them with large spreadsheets of data results in them creating custom formulas, which can be time-consuming, especially if you want visualization, too. 

Solution:

Returns management software gives detailed information on all your current return analytics. From reasons for placing orders, and overall processing costs involved, to monthly return rates, you can look up any data within seconds. Advanced returns software has the ability to predict future trends, display customer preferences, help you strategize your logistics in advance, minimize returns, and implement strategies that boost customer retention. 

How ClickPost Can Help with Returns Management?

ClickPost doesn’t just stop at helping you automate your forward shipping operations. In fact, we specialize in innovating post-purchase solutions. Our ReturnsPro solutions enable your entire team to: 

Overall, ClickPost is an all-in one shipping and returns management that enables you to view and handle all return orders from a single dashboard while gaining access to an anti-fraud detector, branded tracking pages, and a smart self-serve returns portal.

The Takeaway 

When you’re running an online store, returns are always going to follow you. However, they shouldn’t hamper your profits. We’ve covered ten of the most common return order challenges and returns management solutions that your team should be aware of. 

While learning these challenges is helpful, what can really help you in the long run to meet customer expectations is choosing a smart returns management solution like ClickPost. Once implemented, ReturnsPro will convert unwanted returns into improved customer satisfaction and grow business profitability.