One worry that many businesses have is the report of high ecommerce return rates that plague the industry. While all businesses do experience a return rate, when the cost of return shipping is factored in the online risk presents as much higher. Recently, the University of Regensberg conducted a study of businesses and customers to identify which products had the highest return rates, and why. (Learn more about how you can reduce ecommerce returns rates to safeguard your bottom line.)

When the researchers polled the industry, the highest ecommerce return rates were found in fashion and apparel items. The online return rates for these items ranged from 15 to 30 percent of all returns made. The highest return rates were for clothing. The second highest were for shoes. The reasons for these returns proved to be something that can be easily dealt with by companies.

In their survey, the University of Regensberg discovered that the majority of returns had to do with the item not being the correct size, or the customer ordering the wrong size. There was a small portion of returns that admitted to being due to minor fraudulent activity, such as ordering an expensive item for a one-off wear and return. This leads to the major recommendations for reducing return rates that are listed towards the end of this article.

Don’t leave out percent projections for returns from your shipping strategy and budget. Many of the carriers have account features that allow you to attach return information to a shipping order. This reduces the amount of work to activate a return, and the information can be integrated into your accounts system for better tracking and reconciliation.

Here are three ways you can reduce your ecommerce return rates. These are simple to do, and low cost to implement, and they can reduce your return rates by up to 50%.

• Provide comprehensive sizing charts.
• Provide comparison sizing charts.
• Provide feedback area for customers to comment on fit.

While the last suggestion may look like a potential danger zone, most people who will return and replace an item because it didn’t fit will also post about whether sizing ran large or small. Other customers use this information when ordering, but it doesn’t have the effect of turning people away.

The cost of return shipping can include several factors. If you prepare to handle each factor in advance you can reduce the overall impact cost of ecommerce returns. Returns aren’t just about the postage, but they also can cost you man-hours in answering customer inquiries and making return arrangements. Most of the major carriers used for business shipping provide return label services. This can be as simple as printing return information on the shipping label, or as advanced as providing prepaid return labels and shipping containers. Look at what your carrier offers and use it to your advantage. The more your returns are handled without a direct inquiry to your staff, the more man-hours you will save.