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Smooth, Flexible Returns Process Key to Customer Loyalty, Says Clarus

A December Clarus survey found 36% of consumers expected holiday shopping returns to take longer than normal in the 2021 holiday season, while 13% expected to have fewer returns “because they don’t want to deal with the return process at…

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all." A tenth of consumers said returns are often not worth the trouble, so they keep the items, which Clarus said could lead to dissatisfaction with the brand. Some 73% of consumers are unlikely to return to a retailer if they had a bad return experience, 34% very unlikely, it said. The top three features consumers are looking for in the returns process are a free label, box or parcel (71%), payment returned to their preferred method (51%) and fast turnaround for a refund (46%). A quarter of consumers are looking for no-receipt returns; 26% want return tracking, it said. Over half of shoppers are less likely to shop at a store that provides only store credit or a store gift card for a return, said the survey of 2,600 consumers.