Germany documents a leading position when it comes to returns. Uncomplicated and free of charge – that’s what customers are used to. This is why online retailers have to meet high expectations when it comes to returns in order to survive on the market.
Returns as part of customer satisfaction
16.3 percent of parcels delivered are returned, which amounts to 280 million parcels a year*. At the top of the list of returns are items from the fashion sector. Online retailers in the clothing and footwear sector have to reckon with a returns rate of 46%*. The figure is significantly lower for media, electronic devices and books.
But returns are not just about the quantity and the associated costs. Returns management is also an important factor for customer satisfaction. If you want to reduce costs and attract and retain customers, you should approach the returns challenge from several angles:
Avoidable returns
The more informed the purchase decision is, the less likely it is that returns will be made due to misconceptions. Is your service offering already fully utilized in terms of product presentation and advice? Or is there room for improvement, such as videos or 360° views, size advice or instructions for the installation and application of appliances? And if you do everything right in terms of storage and packaging, you can avoid returns due to product damage. You can find more information here.
Professionalize returns management
Most returns cannot be avoided even with the best service. 40 percent of shoppers in the fashion sector plan for returns at the time of purchase. They expect free and uncomplicated returns. With appropriate listings from your logistics provider, these expectations are met and are already transparent at the time of purchase. From a parcel volume of 200 shipments per year, you benefit from individual solutions from the logistics provider. The advantages are customer-friendly service offers, such as simple billing with a flat rate per shipment. And you can individually choose which returns options suit you and your customers perfectly.
Select return option
A very convenient method of returning unwanted goods is an enclosed label that you can easily integrate into your logistics system. With the enclosed return via JTL-ShippingLabels, such a label can be created quickly and easily both nationally and internationally directly from JTL-Wawi and attached to the corresponding package.
Combined with a large listing of parcel acceptance points and packing stations, this not only makes returns more customer-friendly, but also speeds up the return of goods.
Alternatively, you can integrate the listing for goods collection into your customer service. The delivery person will then bring the label with them on collection if requested, your customer determines the collection time and doesn’t have to worry about anything. If you offer returns management online on your website, you reduce process costs compared to customer service solutions.
It is best to seek advice on whether DHL Retoure Online should be a partially or fully integrated solution on your website. As part of DHL Returns Online, you can also offer the modern and attractive Mobile Returns feature, where DHL prints the label for your customers. By the way: The returns offer can be combined with other customer-friendly DHL services, such as GoGreen, bulky goods or individual pick-up orders.
Entrepreneurs who have orders from abroad score particularly well with an attractive returns offer. Unlike in Germany, free returns are not standard in other EU countries, but a clear competitive advantage. Market-leading logistics providers such as DHL offer 85,000 acceptance points in 28 countries to make shipping as easy as possible for your customers.
Overview of options for DHL Returns National:
All returns can be handed in at the DHL store, at the DHL delivery agent or around the clock and without registration at the DHL Packstation.
You can find detailed information here.
Conveniently handle returns for DHL with JTL-Shipping
With the help of JTL-Shipping, you can easily manage your returns for DHL. With the new DHL Shipping 3.0 shipping interface, a few new functions have also been introduced that are particularly practical for international shipping:
Using the “Returns Online System (Rosy for short)” in JTL-Shipping, you can create a separate Receiver ID for each sender country in the DHL Business Customer Portal and store a shipping method in JTL-Wawi. For example, you can define individual return modalities for non-EU countries or those with customs restrictions and use them in JTL-Wawi to suit the initial situation.
We have summarized how exactly this works for you in a practical step-by-step guide in our JTL-Guide:
*All figures from: Online Monitor 2020, HDE German Retail Association
