Study of store returns yields useful information for retailers - stay at home mom aggressively returns merchandise - Brief Article

DSN Retailing Today, Oct 23, 2000

She may be sweet, nurturing and bake the best cookies, but the stay-at-home mom is a retailer's returns nightmare.

According to focus-group research projects conducted by the Reverse Logistics Executive Council and the University of Nevada's Center for Logistics Management, the most aggressive returns customers were young moms. "The least likely to return are college students. I'm not sure what that means--maybe people are irresponsible in college and you get more responsible with kids," said Dale Rogers, of University of Nevada.

One interesting result from the study's 13 focus group sessions, conducted earlier this year, is finding that companies with identical returns policies can be viewed quite differently by consumers. "That leads us to believe what matters more is the interface between the consumer and the retailer, not the actual return policy," Rogers said. The study was released to improve retailer perception about customer thought and behavior in relation to returns policy at the GENCO Product Life Cycle Management Conference.

Other core indications from the consumer focus group research are:

* Men, college students and husbands don't like to return things. "What came through over and over again is husbands won't do it," Rogers said. "Women say their husbands don't like the conflict at the returns desk."

* Women and affluent customers are likely to return merchandise.

* Women prefer to try on apparel at home. If they don't like something, they take it back. "Again and again, women said it's way easier to buy stuff, take it home and return what they don't like," Rogers said.

* Nordstrom's, Target, Mervyns, Meijer, Wal-Mart, Kohl's, Petite Sophisticate and Abercrombie & Fitch Stores get high marks for their returns policies and returns desk execution. Rogers characterized Nordstrom's as "a clear favorite."

* Customers want more time to bring apparel back than they now receive. That goes double for gift purchases.

* Merchandise purchases for special occasions have particular risk. Returns abuse plagues the trade in prom dresses and wedding gowns.

* Clear, concise communications curtail problems with return policies. When consumers don't understand the policy, they get mad.