Mark Eldridge, Marketing & Business Development Director for Spring Global Mail
Ecommerce sales are booming domestically but international sales only account for 7-10% of all online activity. What are the barriers to taking that next big growth step? Understanding the local markets, a local language website, the right payment channels, compliance with local conditions, getting your product delivered – all things to consider. But what if your customer wants to return something? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Do you make it difficult for them? Make them pay for the return? Offer it for free? Pick-up or drop-off?
An effective returns management program should be an integrated part of your online sales and marketing activity – have you got it right?
Mark Eldridge, Marketing and Business Development Director for Spring Global Mail will provide you with some insight into many of the above issues with some live examples and ideas that might just help!
HomeRoots Pitch Deck | Investor Insights | April 2024
Removing the Borders– Effective Returns Management
1. Removing the Borders
Effective Returns Management
Mark Eldridge
Marketing & Business Development Director
Spring Global Mail
E-Shop Expo 2012
2. Stat Attack!
Royal Mail
• Long term online shoppers spend more, on average €2.000
• 47% more likely to buy when carrier is known
• Women send back 42% of clothes items
Accenture
• Around 70% of customers use price comparrison sites
E-commFacts
• German online market passes €20bn in 2011
• Italy grew 20%
Cisco
• USA/UK/Japan 53% Online sales by 2015
• 26% cross-border growth
• growth in international but complex
Boston Consulting Group
• BE market growing 9%, value €9bn in 2011
• 44% BE purchases from another EU country
E-Shop Expo 2012
3. So What?
• Ecommerce is booming, but mainly local
• International Ecommerce 7-10% of total – big potential
Barriers to growth:
• Local language
• Payment Channel
• Products Delivered
• Returns
E-Shop Expo 2012
4. The Key to Success?
• Local language
• Payment Channel
• Products Delivered
• Returns
E-Shop Expo 2012
9. What do Buyers expect?
• Return Label in the Box
• Print off the return label from your website
• Drop off on their way to work or close to home
• Maybe even drop-off in store
• Don’t want to pay for the return
• Don’t want to have to talk to someone to get “return” information
• Just give me a label - What is all this RMA stuff about?
• Want to know before they buy if they can easily return!
• A quick refund
E-Shop Expo 2012
10. What do Sellers need?
• Cost effective returns solution
• Local return option and international return options
• A way to make the buyer pay for the return
• Don’t want to have to talk to the buyer
• High value items back in stock quick to re-sell
• Early data about the return to enable a quick refund
• Why is your customer returning your product?
• Want to make sure it really is the item and not a brick
in the box!
E-Shop Expo 2012
11. Top Tips
1. Visible Process:
– make your returns process and policy clear,
– before you exit the shopping basket,
– a clear link on each page not right at the end after purchase!
• Have clear returns options in place:
– Show them upfront
– Drop-off close to home
– Collect from home
– Drop-off at work
– Drop-off in store
• Next day or Same day delivery
– Don’t apply Delivery rules to Returns.
– Unless item is high value you just need the data quickly….
E-Shop Expo 2012
12. Top Tips
1. Just because delivery is cheep don’t expect return to cost the same
– sometimes a much more complicated logistical process is needed for cross-
border returns
• “No return is a bad return”
– at least the buyer has already traded with you!
– If you make the return “experience” a good one consumers buy again.
– Keep’em happy, complain less = spend more!
• Key to International returns is the “Local Experience”
E-Shop Expo 2012
13. Your passport to international sales
• Catalogue distribution
• Parcel delivery
• Returns management
