The Pain of Manual Returns Management

In today's world of e-commerce, technology plays a very big role in all aspects. Inevitably, all business people must consider digital business management, including managing the process of returning or returning goods. Manually managing the returns process can actually hamper your business and make things more complicated. For more details, you can consider some of the disadvantages that can occur if you implement manual return management below!

E-commerce Return Dichotomy

If you can observe, there are currently big differences or contrasts between large e-commerce players such as Amazon, Alibaba, or even large marketplaces in Indonesia such as Shopee, Tokopedia, Lazada and others. In some aspects, these differences can be seen in terms of the management of goods returns or returns.

Giants or large online industry players certainly have a team dedicated to managing product returns, not just a team that manages goods in warehouses. Many of them develop software to optimize the return process to recover the maximum value of each returned item. You could say the product return process is a complex problem that requires sophisticated solutions and you can't mess around with this one thing.

But not all business owners can afford to dedicate the hefty expense to creating automated return management. Small business owners who are new and growing will have to struggle to be able to manage returns properly. Manual return management operations can be expensive and inefficient and can provide an unsatisfactory experience for the customer.

Disadvantages of Manual Return Process

If a customer buys your product then they can also return it for some reason. Most shoppers or 30% to 50% of shoppers are sure to have a product return experience the entire time they shop. Without an effective return system, most of these shoppers may be dissatisfied with your return system or method or policy and so they will no longer want to shop at your store. Shoppers in modern times like today are more demanding than ever before. A seamless return process is one thing that is essential to creating a satisfying customer experience.

The manual return process flow is often a case of closed procedures and has stifled communication.

Manual Return Flow

Typically, the return process begins with the customer contacting the email address or phone number listed on the website. After a series of communications, the business owner or seller will usually instruct the customer to send the product back. As it is known that the business owner or seller must be able to implement their return policy very well'

Without a sophisticated workflow, the return process can be quite a time-consuming task for customer service especially to confirm whether the product to be returned by the customer meets the criteria for a return. This can also cause doubts for you to implement a return policy while maintaining customer satisfaction.

In a manual return system, you will of course have to tell your own customer if the product doesn't meet the return requirements and this information may upset the customer and ask you to relax the policy. This problem can actually be solved if you use automatic return management instead of manual.

After the goods arrive at the seller's shop, the warehouse team member will receive the product and record its arrival in a document. From there, the customer service representative will confirm that the item can be exchanged or not and if so, then the clerk or staff will send a message to the customer via email and send a return ticket.

Meanwhile, the warehouse team must direct the item or product to its next destination – whether it will be returned to the store's inventory, sold elsewhere, or disposed of.

The entire manual restore process usually lacks integration between components. Sellers will also find it difficult to track orders placed by customers who return the item. The result is an inefficient return process. For some sellers, it can take nearly two weeks to fully process returns. But by using the right return software like ReturnKey, they can process returns in minutes.

In addition, the manual return system will also make it difficult for customers to return the goods they ordered and find out whether the goods can be returned or not.

By using Returnkey, buyers can make their own returns easily and sellers don't have to bother checking email, responding or sending return tickets to customers.

Hassle-free Manual Return Process

The manual return process isn't really ideal for sellers or small business owners, although it can be successful for a while. However, when you encounter a problem, you will definitely think about implementing a manual restore system.

As your business grows, you can expect a decrease in product returns or an increase in service in the returns process. System returns or manual returns can be very inconvenient and detrimental to you in the future. It is not impossible that you will have to incur more operational costs when implementing a manual return process.

When you prioritize customer service by making contact between you and the buyer slowly via email, the return process can be very time consuming. That's why you should switch to using return management software as your business grows.

Use of Software in the Return Process

The good news is that nowadays you can use solutions like ReturnKey which provide an automated return process. You no longer have to bother with manually returning products and contacting customers via email, checking goods and doing other time-consuming work. You can get more time to grow your business regardless of the returns process you have to manage.

Investing in automated ecommerce returns is an investment in your business that can be very profitable later. It is undeniable, by using return software or returns, you can get more customers and increase sales in your business as long as you can provide good service to customers. Returnkey can help your business in returning goods and reducing your business burden so that you can minimize the amount of loss incurred as a result of the return process.

In other words, ReturnKey will not only assist you in the return process but also help you provide a valuable customer experience while increasing profits in your business. So, you don't need to hesitate to use this device because you can get many advantages compared to just relying on returning goods manually.

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