Few online shoppers return items purchased from e-tailers, said a PricewaterhouseCoopers study. Many more would return items but are discouraged by the expense and hassle.
According to the survey of Internet users by the professional services organization, only 4% of online purchasers reported returning their recent online purchase, and 29% have ever returned a non-business product purchased online.
But, 41% say they have wanted to return a product purchased from an e-tailer, but decided it was just too much trouble. “For online retailers, the implication is that return rates are not the best measure of customer dissatisfaction with an online purchase,” the study said.
The top three reasons cited for returning products are
* Product not what I expected–40%
* Product broken/damaged–31%
* Product quality not as expected–31%
The most common complaint among Internet users about returns is having to pay for return postage. Two-thirds of respondents said that was their major complaint. Nearly half of those surveyed complained that returning an online purchase requires a trip to the post office, UPS or FedEx location. Not being able to return products to a store was as the third-biggest problem, demonstrating the inherent advantage enjoyed by multi-channel retailers, according to the study.
The good news for online retailers is that more often than not online purchasers making returns are not so dissatisfied with the return process that it adversely affects future shopping behavior with that specific retailer. Over half of online purchasers who have returned products indicate that their return experience at a certain e-tailer had no affect on their future shopping behavior at that site.
But one in three also said that they are less likely to shop at that specific online shopping site.
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