Five retail brands which do not offer shoppers free returns for online purchases
04.03.2022 - 18:19
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
New research by card payment provider Paymentsense has discovered the brands most commonly searched for in terms of their free return policies.
Approximately, 78 per cent of customers said they are more likely to buy from a brand if they offer free returns, as it makes the process easier and also offers security - especially for more expensive purchases.
With this in mind, Paymentsense analysed search volumes for the top 500 retailers in the UK to see which brands were being searched for in relation to ‘free returns’. The team then analysed the top 20 brands' websites to see what returns policies they actually offer.
Out of the top 500 retailers in the UK, Amazon came out on top, with on average 4,400 searches related to free returns per month.
Amazon is the most searched-for brand in the UK at 414 million searches a month for its brand name alone. Customers will be happy to hear they can return items for free within 30 days.
Following Amazon is clothing retailer ASOS at 1,600 ‘free return’ related searches a month.
Out of the top 20, only five brands did not offer free returns to all UK customers.
These are:
High levels of returns can cause strain to a business's supply chain due to higher package volumes.
Some 52 per cent of shoppers are unlikely to use an online retailer again if they’re charged for returns, but by offering free returns, brands open themselves up to serial refunders who are likely to take advantage of the offering and order more products than they need.
In the UK, one in three customers return a product once a month.
Paymentsense’s data from anonymised transactions from over 54,000 Paymentsense card machines across the UK, shows small businesses lost an average £15,600 a month due to serial refunders in