With the holiday season coming to an end, there is frenzy among the customers returning gifts which they did not especially like. While some returns are straightforward, others might get costly and complicated for the small business owners who lack the deeply absorbing pockets of the department chain store. To those who think that returns have clear rules, you need to consider the mistakes of business owners and avoid the common pitfalls.
Mistake #1: The rules of reshipping are vague.
The co founder of Chocomize.com, Eric Heinbockel realized the mistake after getting a shipment to a rural address which was returned to the headquarters of the chocolate company in Cherry Hill, NJ. The customer offered an address where the US Postal Service did not deliver and in a bid to understand who would absorb the shipping costs, Heinbockel was the one to cover the fee in the end. According to him, it was not worth it to lose a customer who had made several purchases in the past from the website. The experience was one which made Chocomize.com to revise its policy. It does not pay any further shipping costs if customers make the mistake and explicitly mentions rural addresses.
Mistake #2: The window of time for returns is broad.
After being in business for 27 years, Richard Ignatz has shrunken the total number of days he allows the customer to return purchases from his upscale clothing stores and ensures that there are on wiggles to negotiate. Until about a decade back, the window for making the returns was 30 days for his 5 Boutique Emmanuel locations throughout Michigan. 5 years back, he cut down the time to 15 days and today it is 10. According to Ignatz, when the customer got back the product 30 or 60 days later, he had to put it on discounts of 50% to 75%. Additionally, the chance of a resale to a couple of customers was missed. Today, the customers are shown the return policy and they are required to put their initials on the receipt.
Mistake #3: Inconsistency of policy.
When The Papery, an upscale family owned gift and stationery store had a single location in Shrewsbury, the return policy was liberal. Any of the items could be brought back anytime for a refund, provided it was still being stocked at the store and could be sold again. Five years down the line, with new addressed being added, there were problems cropping up. Customers who shopped at multiple locations noticed inconsistent practices. Gradually, the Visconti family started adopting a single standardized policy of 30 days across the board. A uniform customer policy not only earns customer respect, but lets them know what to expect from the store.
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