Can You Compete with Internet Return Policies?
Because online shopping has grown to be the norm, return policies have become even more important. Unlike visitors that come into our brick-and-mortar jewelry stores, online customers don’t get to physically see and touch the item before they purchase it. Therefore, e-commerce sites have ensured that their return policies are fair and appealing to their customers by offering 30-day return policies with a full refund. Such online jewelry stores include:
These lenient return policies have been adopted not just because the customer can’t see or feel the item but because “customer satisfaction is number one.” Even if the customer orders the item, wears it for a period of time without causing damage to it, and then returns it because he/she feels, “I just don’t like it or it’s not what I imagined it to be”—return it.
Given that a store’s return policy is important when making a purchasing decision, how do independent jewelry storeowners ensure that our policies are competitive, fair, and appealing?
Try asking yourself the following questions before setting your return in stone.
- Is it important to encourage repeat business or to make individual sales?
- What is the appropriate period for returns at other local brick-and-mortar jewelry stores?
- Is a receipt required?
- Do you incur any fees for returning—thereby charging restocking fees to your customer?
- Are Custom Order Sales Final?
- How do you handle alterations to an item in stock (sizing of a ring, lengthening of an anklet or bracelet) then returning it?
- What about a special order from a catalog?
SO—What type of jewelry store are you?
- Exchange Only
- Store Credit
- All Sales Final
- Complete Refunds
- Restocking Fees
ASHU KHANNA commented:
MAKING SALES IN A BRICK & MORTAR STORE INVOLVES A LOT MORE
COSTS & LABOUR COMPARED TO INTERNET HENCE IT WOULD BE
IMPRACTICAL TO EMULATE THE SAME RETURN POLICIES
Shanu S. Guliani commented:
I agree---we (I mean jewelers) should definitely match what's on
the internet. That's the only way to say competitive. A 30day
return policy is about average on the net.
Rob Bates commented:
Mark Moeller has always bragged at trade shows about his "lifetime
return policy" ... he said it's added many sales and let to very
few returns. I'm not a retailer but I think jewelers out there
should be at least trying to match what's on the Internet.
Hedda Schupak commented:
Shanu raises an interesting point. Not being a retailer, I wouldn't
know for sure, but I would think it's not too difficult to spot a
serial returner, vs. a customer who just changed their mind. I know
that certain stores who have had issues with customers buying
formal wear, wearing it for an event, then returning it, now put an
extra tag on it in a prominent place, with the words "this garment
is returnable as long as this tag is still attached." That's
probably not practical for jewelry, unless you know for sure you
have customers who buy pieces before a big society gala and then
return them. But for the average person, a period of
return-for-full-refund, followed by a longer period of
return-for-merchandise-credit-only seems fair. A longtime good
customer who comes in with a one-time tale of financial woe can be
forgiven and accommodated for the sake of future business. A
customer who makes a habit of it isn't someone you need, is it?
