To benefit from returns, retailers need to enhance the customer experience, optimize costs and preserve revenue, write Alvarez & Marsal's Michael Simoncic and Alfredo Lozano.
The holiday shopping frenzy is typically followed by a tidal wave of returned merchandise, a long-time source of lost sleep (and lost revenue) for retailers. But by making the return process painless, transparent, and visible, retailers can remove ‘return anxiety’ from the customer’s shopping experience — and from their own. To do this successfully, companies can take proactive steps to prevent and reduce the need for returns by strategizing around creating frictionless, convenient, easy returns.