Returns Management Solutions

Reducing Your Returns

The first thing we do to reduce the number of product returns you get is simply getting the right products to the right people without them being damaged along the way. You would think this would be something that all fulfilment companies get right, however, 23% of all customer returns are due to the wrong item being sent to them. Another 20% of returns are caused by customers receiving damaged items. At Whitehouse Solutions, we know that the quickest way to reduce the number of returns you receive is to get the basic first steps right.

This is why we have several systems in place to make sure the correct items have been picked and that they’re packaged safely. This all starts with our pick and pack service where we use a combination of barcodes, weight checks and address checks to ensure the right person gets the right order 99.9% of the time.

Every time someone makes a return we capture the reason for the return and store this in the Order Management System (OMS). This gives you regular insights into the reasons customers are returning items, broken down by product lines and the reason for the return. These regular insights allow you to make changes to reduce the total number of returns you receive.

Making Returns Management Easy

We know that customers returning items is a part of life as an eCommerce business, maybe they ordered the wrong size or the product looks different to what was advertised. Whatever the reason for the return 92% of customers would buy something again from you if the returns process was simple.

We make returns quick and hassle-free for your customers through our returns management service, with a range of options including a refund or shipping a replacement item. When you first set up the OMS you can decide whether you want to offer free returns, in which case the system will generate and send a shipping label to your customer or whether the customer pays for return shipping. You are also able to decide at what point the refund is released to the customer. This includes once the item has been sent, once the item has been received at our warehouse or via manual approval in the OMS.

Once the customer has decided to return the product for a refund you can initiate the refund process from the OMS. If your eCommerce platform supports it your customers can apply for a return through your online store and the OMS will automatically pick this up. Once the refund process has started your customer will automatically receive an email with instructions on how to return the item.

Both you and your customer will have full visibility of the status of the return including tracking numbers and status updates along the way. This helps to reduce the number of frustrated customers not knowing the status of their returns and minimises the number of support requests you’ll receive.

Once the item has been received at our warehouse you can then decide what you would like our eCommerce returns management team to do. We can either forward the returned products on to you or we can accept the product back into our warehouse after checking it against your pre-approved criteria. Finally, the product is either re-stocked, reworked or held for your approval.