Retailers Face the 'Holiday Hangover' with Rising Returns

FarEye Returns Management Solution enables brands to streamline the returns process and provides customers with tracking & full visibility into the status of their returns.

Chicago, January 9, 2024: In the wake of the holiday season, retailers are grappling with the repercussions of elevated online return rates in early January. This costly ‘holiday hangover’ has become expected by retailers annually. A well-crafted returns management system has a direct impact on a company’s cost of doing business and customer loyalty. FarEye’s online returns management solution simplifies the returns experience for customers by removing friction from returns and exchanges and creating new revenue opportunities for retailers.

FarEye enables the brands to enhance the efficiency of return and exchange processes, orchestrating seamless logistics at every stage of the return cycle. The solution provides comprehensive functionality for pickup, receiving, inspection, and processing of returns and exchanges. What sets FarEye apart is its unique ability to integrate these return flows seamlessly into your existing "forward" delivery network, accelerating speed and efficiency while reducing costs. To learn more about FarEye’s return solution click here.

“In 2023, returns amounted to 14.5% of the total sales reaching about $743 billion in merchandise. With the returns volume only increasing, getting the returns process right and giving consumers a seamless experience worth coming back for is a challenge retailers are grappling with. FarEye’s ‘returns offering’ addresses the orchestration, timeliness, and customer experience problems in the returns process. It enables organizations to transform returns into opportunities by offering free, fast, flexible, and sustainable returns options.” said Kushal Nahata, CEO and co-founder, FarEye.

“What led us to look for a product like FarEye was for us to be efficient at doing last-mile delivery. We needed routing software that would intelligently take a list of addresses and develop the most optimal driving route. By driving the optimal routes, we are decreasing our carbon footprint with fewer emissions, and we’re using less fuel” added Al Contreas, Customer Innovation Manager, Gordon Food Service.

FarEye’s returns management solution simplifies the returns experience for consumers through these capabilities:

• Embedded branded returns portal: Gives retailers the ability to personalize the returns experience, upsell the consumer through targeted ads on special offers and upcoming events, and a dedicated dashboard to measure the performance of retailers’ 3PL and merchant network.

• Real-time tracking of returns and refunds: Offers granular return policies and fees based on any customer or order attribute, and allows the consumer to choose their preferred carrier for the return.

• Flexible returns methodology: Allows consumers to choose from multiple shipping options to best match their needs. They can select at-home pickup or choose from multiple drop-off locations like store and carrier locations, and schedule windows for at-home pickups.

• Returns analytics: Gives retailers powerful insights that reduce return rate, help define the return strategy, solve inventory issues, gather SKU-level analytics, and ultimately deliver more value to the consumer.

Online returns are costly, estimated to account for 60% of the sale price of a standard $50 order. In addition, there are challenges of fraudulent returns, where consumers are sending the wrong items back or items that have been worn repeatedly. FarEye is providing a 360-degree view of returns which will help logistics leaders identify issues faster, track key metrics, and ensure exceptional customer experience levels.