Many retailers extend their usual 30-day return policies during the holidays, but a study of some of the country's largest retailers by California-based CrossView offers a grim assessment about return policies.
The consulting company, which specializes in cross-channel commerce, says it looked at return policies of 88 retailers, including Best Buy, Target, Sears and J.Crew.
Among its findings:
- Half don't include the return policy on the home page, "forcing customers to go digging" for it. - 65 percent require a receipt – While this seems like a no brainer today, CrossView recommends that retailers "investigate other verification options" to avoid fraud, because many people are simply returning gifts. - One-quarter don't allow cross-channel returns – this is a buy online, return in-store option (or vice versa). CrossView points out that customers expect a "seamless experience when shopping, and returning items is no different." Last year, about $43 billion of merchandise was returned during last year's holiday season, the company said. What has your experience been with returns? Do some stores do better than others?
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