Inside Retail

MARCH 2, 2025

Rising operational costs, increased global competition, and shifting consumer behaviours are among the contributing factors. Shein uses advanced data analytics to predict trends and manufacture new designs with speed, while Temu’s aggressive pricing strategies have captured cost-conscious consumers.

Fashion 237

Fashion Fast Fashion Fulfillment Returns 237

Retail TouchPoints

JANUARY 17, 2025

With returns siphoning off a staggering $743 billion from retailers bottom lines in 2023, its clear that the industrys approach needs an overhaul. But instead of leaning on rigid policies that risk driving customers away, retailers can use this as an opportunity to rethink returns.

Returns 157

Returns Supply Chain Management Customer Experience Finance 157

Inside Retail

OCTOBER 24, 2024

Why automation is non-negotiable Australian consumers expect fast deliveries, error-free orders, and seamless shopping journeys. Whenever we need a more efficient fulfilment solution, ShipStation’s support team is ready with helpful suggestions,” says Jen from Subo. Black Friday 2024 snapshot: A $6.7 A forecast $69.7

Drop-Shipping 264

Drop-Shipping Shipping Fulfillment Inventory Management 264

Inside Retail

FEBRUARY 18, 2025

Australia and New Zealands leading pureplay online fashion, lifestyle and sporting destination has had a year of evolution; with seemingly smooth transitions overhauling the businesss order warehouse management system (OWMS), building a new B2B platform business and tackling the intricate returns issue. So of that, whats actually bracketing?

Returns 214

Returns Fulfillment Customer Experience Fashion 214

Retail TouchPoints

AUGUST 16, 2021

Returns provide brands and retailers the opportunity to delight their customers. market saw over $400B in returns in 2020. If this dollar value were a proxy for revenues, the returns channel would be the second largest global retailer behind Walmart. That is a significant amount of capital tied up in the returns channel!

Returns 335

Returns Drop-Shipping Consumer Management 335

Retail TouchPoints

MAY 17, 2024

As stores try to balance protecting profit margins while delivering a unified customer experience, the escalating cost of returns has reached a breaking point. returns reached a staggering $743 billion in 2023, representing over 14.5% As a result of this burgeoning problem, retailers have started to incorporate return fees.

Returns 273

Returns Fulfillment Inventory Management Apparel 273

Inside Retail

JANUARY 6, 2025

billion in gross merchandise volume (total spend before fees, discounts and returns) up from $4.5 This, combined with Amazons dedicated focus on building a vast fulfilment network to underpin its delivery proposition, has allowed the brand to achieve the size and scale it has in the UK. billion in the prior year.

Fulfillment 240

Fulfillment Shipping Marketing Accessories 240

Retail TouchPoints

NOVEMBER 22, 2022

The NYC-headquartered Fillogic will support the retailer through ecommerce and store-based fulfillment, reverse logistics and returns, forward-staging of inventory and final-mile delivery. The space will allow the retailer to stage inventory, satisfy merchandise pickup and delivery and fulfill store-based and ecommerce orders.

Fulfillment 282

Fulfillment Payment Services Inventory Management Department Stores 282

Retail TouchPoints

JULY 22, 2024

With the 2024 holiday season not too far away, it’s an opportune moment to evaluate your fulfillment operations and determine which technologies require an upgrade or replacement to secure your future success. That’s where a modern fulfillment management system (FMS) steps in to meet both internal and external needs.

Fulfillment 272

Fulfillment Management Shipping Supply Chain Management 272

Retail TouchPoints

OCTOBER 21, 2024

In 2023, fraudulent returns accounted for a staggering 13.7% of all returns , resulting in $101 billion in losses. With the rise of ecommerce, direct-to-consumer (DTC) retailers are particularly vulnerable as their online-only presence provides fertile ground for fraudulent activities.

Returns 274

Returns Accounting Payment Services Location 274

Retail TouchPoints

FEBRUARY 6, 2025

In the words of Paula Mitchell, Digital General Manager, We wanted consumers to think of Freedom not as your mums brand but as your best friends brand. First Step: Expanding the Online Offering Part of the reason for that low number was the fact that the companys website only featured a subset of products and minimal fulfillment capabilities.

Kiosk 249

Kiosk Fulfillment Customer Experience Planning 249

Retail TouchPoints

MARCH 24, 2022

Ask any retailer or consumer and they’ll agree on this point: ecommerce returns are a problem — albeit for diametrically opposed reasons. Meanwhile, more than three in four (78%) consumers say they’ve had an inconvenient online returns experience recently, per Pitney Bowes latest BOXpoll survey.

Returns 307

Returns Drop-Shipping Merchant Services Shipping 307

Retail TouchPoints

SEPTEMBER 3, 2020

Returns are a cost of doing business for any retailer. In the wake of COVID-19, returns are receiving serious (and necessary) attention for several key reasons: Retailers are spending more processing returns in stores. For retailers struggling to avoid bankruptcy or emerge from it, a growing returns quagmire could be deadly.

Returns 332

Returns Merchant Services Shipping Department Stores 332

Retail TouchPoints

JANUARY 29, 2024

Store-based fulfillment of customer orders got an enormous boost during the COVID pandemic, when both curbside pickup and delivery offerings became survival tactics for so many retailers. Want to find out more about how retailers are meeting omnichannel and fulfillment challenges?

Fulfillment 284

Fulfillment Drop-Shipping Customer Retention Shipping 284

Retail TouchPoints

JULY 26, 2023

Today’s fast-paced world leaves consumers strapped for cash and time. Burgeoning demands for exemplary customer service and lightning-fast order fulfillment leave unprepared retailers scrambling for their share of the market. From order placement to shipping notifications, consumers demand regular updates about their orders or returns.

Fulfillment 240

Fulfillment Drop-Shipping Shipping Customer Retention 240

Retail TouchPoints

MAY 11, 2021

It’s becoming increasingly clear that returns have costs that go well beyond the financial. 5 billion pounds of returned goods end up in landfills and 15 million metric tons of carbon dioxide are emitted in the transportation of returns, according to research conducted by reverse logistics solution provider Optoro.

Returns 307

Returns Consumer Shopping Accounting 307

Retail TouchPoints

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

that delivers pretty much any item to a consumer with science fiction-style immediacy, retailers remain bound by 21 st -century delivery methods. But just because we’re not yet stepping into transporters to beam us where we want to go doesn’t mean technology has no role to play in cutting fulfillment costs.

Fulfillment 273

Fulfillment Shipping Supply Chain Management Consumer 273

Retail TouchPoints

NOVEMBER 8, 2022

In 2021, returns cost retailers a whopping $761 billion , or almost 17% of total U.S. This year the powerful combination of the special sale dates in Q4 (like Target, Amazon and Walmart holding October Black Friday events) and an increase in ecommerce holiday shopping means that this upward trend for returns will continue.

Returns 301

Returns Markdowns Inventory Management Customer Experience 301

Retail TouchPoints

JANUARY 6, 2025

While policymakers often champion tariffs as a mechanism to protect domestic industries, their ripple effects are far-reaching, inflating costs, disrupting supply chains and, ultimately, burdening consumers. Price-sensitive products suffered a drop in demand as consumers struggled to shoulder the rising cost of tariff-stricken goods.

Apparel 273

Apparel Consumer Payment Services Promotions 273

Inside Retail

NOVEMBER 14, 2024

Research shows that a lousy customer experience will deter 76 per cent of customers from returning to shop on your platform. They trust your business to fulfil their purchases on time and in full – and for returns to be convenient. That ensures you make the correct fulfilment and delivery decisions for every order.

Fulfillment 130

Fulfillment Returns Customer Experience Management 130

Retail TouchPoints

FEBRUARY 26, 2025

A recent study found that three-quarters of consumers will avoid a brand after a cybersecurity issue, and more than 40% assume that brands are to blame when an incident occurs. Another survey of online consumer attitudes found that 84% wont go back to an ecommerce site after a fraud experience there.

Payment Services 232

Payment Services Returns Accounting Shipping 232

Retail TouchPoints

JANUARY 20, 2025

From mountains of packaging to returned products that may contain hazardous materials, management of returned, damaged or expired products becomes increasingly complex and voluminous during the holidays and post-holiday season. The holiday season brings a surge in shopping, both in-store and online.

Management 307

Management Returns Department Stores Merchandise Store 307

Retail TouchPoints

AUGUST 30, 2021

Retail rode strong into Q2 2021 as shoppers returned to stores even as digital sales remained elevated. The spring and early summer was an optimistic time for many consumers who finally emerged from lockdowns looking to refresh their wardrobes and find items suited for smaller local outings during the warmer months.

Consumer 326

Consumer Fulfillment Department Stores Sporting Goods 326

Retail TouchPoints

MARCH 14, 2023

Returns are, like it or not, as much a part of retail operations as the sales themselves. The exact return rate varies among different verticals and individual retailers, but online sales consistently generate higher levels of returns compared to brick-and-mortar. That means you’re out of business.

Returns 260

Returns Markdowns Fulfillment Consumer 260

Retail TouchPoints

MAY 2, 2023

It’s meant to be quite simple for a shopper, but as an ecommerce retailer, you know it’s not that easy — especially if the customer changes their mind and wants to return said magical shipment back to your shop. What happens next, by way of return experience, most certainly impacts whether they will purchase from your business again.

Customer Retention 273

Customer Retention Returns Merchant Services Shipping 273

Retail TouchPoints

JUNE 29, 2023

In Amazon ’s latest moves to bolster its logistics and fulfillment network, the company has partnered with Staples to accept customer returns and is looking for 2,500 local business to join its new Hub Delivery network. Staples Joins Amazon’s Network of Returns Partners By July 31, 2023, all Staples U.S. Retail in a statement.

Returns 281

Returns Fulfillment Location Planning 281

Retail TouchPoints

APRIL 11, 2023

Ecommerce has revolutionized retail shopping, with consumers trading in the poorly lit dressing room experience for the comfort of our own bedrooms. For some, however, this trade-off comes at the price of navigating frustrating and, at times, confusing return policies.

Returns 291

Returns Customer Retention Consumer Shopping 291

Retail TouchPoints

MARCH 28, 2023

For many years, permissive returns policies have been the norm in ecommerce. For the post-holiday season just past, it’s estimated that the total value of returned goods will be around $171 billion. retailers were revisiting their returns policies as of late 2022. With numbers like these, it’s no wonder that most U.S.

Returns 274

Returns Home Furnishings Supply Chain Management Consumer 274

Retail TouchPoints

JANUARY 10, 2023

DoorDash has introduced Package Pickup, allowing consumers across the country to have the service deliver up to five return items per trip to UPS, FedEx or the USPS. Consumers can attach prepaid shipping labels to their returns or send a shipping QR code directly to their “Dasher” via the DoorDash app.

Returns 273

Returns Drop-Shipping Wholesale Shipping 273

Retail TouchPoints

APRIL 3, 2024

For anyone who has made a purchase online, returns are part of the standard online buying process — so much so that, according to a recent U.S. Consumer Study , 85% of consumers check a company’s returns policy before even making a purchase when shopping online, and 68% of U.S. consumers and retain repeat customers.

Returns 246

Returns Drop-Shipping Shipping Consumer 246

Retail TouchPoints

FEBRUARY 12, 2021

With COVID-19 case counts declining and vaccination efforts underway, eager consumers and retailers are both looking hopefully toward a future return to normal. The study draws on the expertise of its team of global analysts covering 100 countries around the world to identify the traits that will define consumer behavior this year.

Consumer 347

Consumer Customer Experience Accounting Shopping 347

Retail TouchPoints

OCTOBER 26, 2023

UPS has agreed to acquire reverse-logistics solution Happy Returns from PayPal for an undisclosed amount. Happy Returns offers box-free, label-free returns for more than 800 merchant partners at over 10,000 locations across the U.S. of retail purchases (both online and in-store) were returned last year.

Returns 261

Returns Merchant Services Payment Services Location 261

Inside Retail

JUNE 1, 2023

Growing consumer expectations of free delivery and free returns are placing pressure on retailers who on one hand recognise customer demand, but on the other are trying to reduce their operating costs. Another strategy, she says, is to automate fulfilment. This is especially true with women’s apparel, for example. “We’ve

Returns 234

Returns Shipping Promotions Fulfillment 234

Inside Retail

MARCH 5, 2025

Intensifying global competition, ongoing economic pressures and evolving consumer behaviours are reshaping the e-commerce landscape, forcing retailers to adapt and evolve. Consumers in Australia will gravitate towards retailers who can consistently provide quick, reliable and transparent delivery.

Fulfillment 130

Fulfillment Shipping Customer Retention Inventory Management 130

Retail TouchPoints

JULY 19, 2024

Reshop , a platform that provides instant refunds (not store credit) to shoppers returning items from participating retailers, has debuted with retailer partners including Steve Madden and Alo Yoga. With Reshop, customers can receive instant refunds — offering them greater flexibility, control and confidence to shop again right away.

Returns 259

Returns Merchant Services Payment Services Fashion 259

Retail TouchPoints

JANUARY 3, 2024

Long viewed as a necessary evil, the retail returns process is emerging as an unexpected avenue for growth and customer engagement. In the rapidly expanding ecommerce market, projected to reach $3 billion in 2023, a significant 20% to 30% of online purchases end up being returned. Speed-to-restock is key in the returns cycle.

Returns 274

Returns Drop-Shipping Customer Experience Customer Retention 274

Retail TouchPoints

DECEMBER 16, 2024

RTP: How do you use consumer and associate feedback to best prioritize your tech investments? Lockton: In addition to taking into consideration feedback and market and consumer trends, we are a test-and-learn company. What role does the app currently play in consumers’ shopping behaviors?

Payment Services 273

Payment Services Checkout Shipping Shopping 273