A survey by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has shown that over 60% of consumers are less likely to return goods they buy online compared to those they buy offline. It seems that many consumers may not be aware that they have the automatic right to a 7 day cooling off period for products brought online. Perhaps the most important factor is the inconvenience of returning items bought online, especially as it’s only really the larger ecommerce websites that make it easy to return items (with returns postage labels & packaging etc).

However, as more and more of retail shifts away from offline to online, it is likely that more consumers will use the Returns option for online goods if they are not happy. With that in mind here are some tips to reduce Returns:

- Make sure your product descriptions communicate effectively; any vagueness on colour, size, specification etc is likely to result in higher returns.

- Use good photos (from different angles) and videos to demo the product, if appropriate.

Use Good Photos from Different Angles

- For technical products, provide links to manufacturer’s brochures/websites for further information.

- Enable the product comparison functionality, if your ecommerce website has this. Tiger Commerce provides this useful feature as standard in its ecommerce website software - allowing shoppers to compare a breakdown of the key features of  several products side by side on the page.  This way, they are able to make better selections.

Product Comparison Functionality

- Ensure that your packaging is up to scratch for items that could be damaged in the delivery process.

- Make your Returns policy accessible and easy to use. More customers may return items, but having experienced great Returns service, they may also be more likely to come back and make further purchases that do meet their needs.