Shopping during the pandemic just got easier. Cadillac Fairview has found an awesome way to enhance its customer’s shopping experience while purchasing items during these unprecedented times. The company will do this by introducing a brand new return system for purchases made both online and in-store.
The stress of having to make returns at different retailers in the mall or shipping out multiple packages for a refund is all in the past.
Cadillac Fairview has partnered With ReturnBear to offer customers the ability to return items from many different retailers all at once.
This system offers a couple of options for making returns. You can either bring unwanted items to a drop-off location at a CF mall or you’ll be able to ship everything (even if it’s from different retailers) in one package to a ReturnBear hub.
Not only is this super convenient for customers, but it also reduces the environmental footprint of shoppers since they won’t have to mail out several packages.
Does it get any better than that?
Executive Vice President and Digital & Innovation of Cadillac Fairview, Jose Ribau, spoke about the collaboration in a release saying, “ReturnBear specializes in consolidated reverse logistics which is basically handling returns on behalf of retailers and allowing for a customer to either ship their returns directly or drop them off at a location and essentially remove that pain point from having to worry about that themselves.”
These plans are set to happen later this year at Cadillac Fairview locations.
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Whether something doesn’t fit, doesn’t look right, or wasn’t made properly, you have plenty of reasons to return an item you’ve bought to the store. It’s something as normal to you as sending a dish back at a restaurant, right? Well, not for much longer, according to the Wall Street Journal.
As we move farther and farther into the digital age, we are watched more closely than ever — and that now includes our returns.
You’ve probably heard of companies giving your information to third-party apps or companies, right? Well, even your return habits are being sent to a third party called The Retail Equation, and that information is being used by the stores you love to shop at.
The Retail Equation program helps stores to evaluate customers’ return behaviour and ban those who return too many products.
The principle behind the practice is this: major companies like Home Depot and Victoria’s Secret want to keep an eye on the frequency at which a single customer returns products. They’re looking for risks to their companies, since the numbers show that 92.5% of retailers have experienced a form of “return fraud.”
Essentially, they want to make sure they’re not being scammed.
Does a customer return things on a regular basis? How much do they get back, and in what form? These are all things that are now being monitored by your ID. The Retail Equation will build a shopping and return history using your identification to keep track of you. If something in their algorithm is triggered, they can deny you your money back.
“A Home Depot representative, Matt Harrigan, noted that to combat return fraud, the home improvement retailer uses the Retail Equation database only for returns made without a receipt,” reports NPR.
According to the NPR, retailers use it to prevent retail crime.”There were organized retail crime rings, and those crimes negatively affect the entire community.”
The problem, however, is that this database is not perfect.
For example, the Wall Street Journal reports, Best Buy customer Jake Zakhar ran into a snag in the system after he returned three phone cases to the big box store. Like many of us, he bought a few extra than he needed and planned to return the ones his sons didn’t want. However, upon speaking to an associate at Best Buy, he was told that he was banned from shopping and exchanging anything at Best Buy for a year.
There is some good news, however: The Retail Equation has a step-by-step process to help customers like Jake. Emailing them is the first step to appealing your case, and also to obtaining your Retail Equation Report.
Even so, some customers are still having trouble, as evidenced by TRE’s one-star rating on Yelp. One user wrote, “This company is the worst company I have dealt with in the last 20 years.”
The Retail Equation currently has a class action lawsuit against them.
Featured image:bellaellaboutique via Flickr
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If the holiday lead-up and Boxing Day madness wasn’t chaotic enough for retailers, things don’t get much easier in January; the month of returns – both in-store and via the mail. Year-round, however, it’s easier than ever to return something that isn’t quite right thanks to the online shopping craze and the ability it offers shoppers to find another option in a few quick clicks.
Free return policies allow us to send something back as simply as a trip to the nearest post office.
What many otherwise savvy shoppers may not know, however, is that most products – even those in perfect condition and in unopened boxes – don’t always go back on store shelves, according to CBC. Returning unwanted items is also contributing to a growing carbon footprint.
In fact, Canadians return roughly $46 billion worth of goods annually, costing retailers massively.
While certain retailers may quickly resell some goods – like that pair of shoes or jacket you realized didn’t work with your wardrobe and returned to the store at the mall – most returns, especially when it comes to online shopping, end up in a crowded warehouse with other unwanted products.
Contrary to popular belief, most items don’t arrive back at the retail outlets they came from.
The warehouses they now call home are operated by third party companies and logistics firms who organize, catalog, and refurbish the products before selling them at largely discounted wholesale prices to individuals, discount retailers, flea markets, and eBay sellers via a company website or sites like Amazon. As CBC highlights, these companies will take a commission, and the sales revenue will go back to the retailer.
While this is not widely known, it’s not that surprising. For starters, many companies may only want to be associated with a shiny, new, untouched product to maintain the integrity and values of their brand. Secondly, by the time the product has been sent back to distribution and repackaged, it could have gone on sale in-store or been discontinued. Finally, some retailers simply don’t have the capacity to handle the inflow of unwanted product and would rather save the costs of having to deal with returned items by outsourcing.
According to the Economist, dealing with these items can amount to a tenth of the cost of making and distributing them to begin with.
As the Economist highlights, the more high-tech and sophisticated firms will plot the possible fate of a returned item in advance – before the product even goes on sale – to ensure that the item can be redirected quickly and efficiently once it’s returned and sent to a warehouse. Some companies have computer software that asks warehouse workers questions that will determine the outcome for various products. Some perfectly good products will actually be destroyed all together – either burned or shredded – to avoid getting into the hands of discount retailers and therefore compromising the brand’s image or intellectual property rights.
Sadly, some discarded products will inevitably end up in landfills, eventually creating a growing carbon footprint.
Landfills aside, even the logistics involved in the transportation of the unwanted goods also creates a carbon footprint that isn’t likely to shrink any time soon. Though some retailers have tried to curb returns in recent years with things like shorter return periods or limitations on what can be returned, the reality is that return rates are only going to climb as an increasing number of consumers get more comfortable with online shopping.
When it comes to returns, some shoppers are more honest about it than others. While many articles of clothing or household goods are returned simply because they don’t work, or – especially in the wake of bridal and baby showers – they are a duplicate gift, according to Business Insider, “wear-and-return” fraud is a huge problem and costs retailers billions each holiday season. Sneaky cash-strapped style seekers will wear an article of clothing once – discreetly hiding the tags – only to return the item to the store for a full refund. Some will even damage an item before returning it. Tacky? Yes; but a reality.
At the end of the day, if you can’t bring yourself to feel bad for the big billion-dollar retailers when it comes to returns, take the environment into account. While it may make sense for the avid online shopper to buy something in three sizes and return the two that don’t fit, doing so may not be as an enticing of an option if you consider the potential environmental impact in doing so. But that’s just us.
Featured image: Pexels
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Online retail giant Amazon has joined the list of retailers that are banning customers for constantly returning purchased products.
Along with such retailers as Sephora, Best Buy, the Home Depot, Victoria’s Secret, J.C. Penney and more, Amazon now tracks down shoppers who take advantage of the brand’s return policy. And in certain cases, the retailer terminates the accounts without notice.
“There are rare occasions where someone abuses our service over an extended period of time. We never take these decisions lightly, but with over 300 million customers around the world, we take action when appropriate to protect the experience for all our customers,” said Amazon spokesperson in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
Even though Amazon is known for its ‘one-click’ ordering and easy returns, the retailer is willing to protect itself from return abuse that according to Racked, “costs retailers in the US up to $17.6 billion in losses.” Using a special algorithm, Amazon tracks down and flags accounts that ask for too many refunds or if a customer returns the wrong product. Before deciding whether an account should be closed, an Amazon employee will review the customer’s return behaviour.
“If your behavior is consistently outside the norm, you’re not really the kind of customer they want,” former Amazon manager James Thomson said to Racked.
Have you ever been banned from making returns on Amazon or any other retailers? Share your experience by emailing me alina@styledemocracy.com.
There are many reasons why we love shopping at Sephora: beautiful displays of shiny new products, welcoming stuff, free samples, reward programs, and of course, its generous product return policy that allows customers to bring back both opened and unopened products within 60 days of purchase (even without a receipt.)
However, next time you’re getting a product at Sephora in the hopes of returning it later, think twice.
The Wall Street Journal has recently reported that the Paris-based beauty retailer is using a special program to track customer returns. TRE or The Retail Equation program helps stores to evaluate customers’ return behaviour and ban those who return too many products.
The program is aimed at protecting companies from return abuse, which according to The Retail Equation website is a form of “friendly fraud” where someone purchases products without intending to keep them.
So how does it work? The website explains that every time a consumer wants to make a return, a retailer will scan the original sales transaction receipt and/or swipe the individual’s driver’s license or government-issued ID card (including passports) to make an identification of the person and his/her unique return behaviour.
In the official statement, Sephora explained its decision to track customers who return products without any proof of purchase: “We make every effort to accommodate returns, but a small fraction of customers take advantage of our policy, in many cases returning more than twice as much merchandise as they purchase. This limits product selection and unfairly impacts other clients. When we identify excessive return patterns, we notify those customers that we may limit future returns or exchanges if no proof of purchase is provided.”
According to Racked, Sephora is not the only retailer that uses the service. The list also includes Best Buy, the Home Depot, Victoria’s Secret, J.C. Penney and more.
Sources: www.racked.com, www.businessinsider.com