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Retailers are making returns harder. A carpet seller taught me why that’s a mistake | Gene Marks

Retailers are making returns harder. A carpet seller taught me why that’s a mistake | Gene Marks

Summary

The article explains that product returns are a normal and expected cost of doing business. Retailers should build the cost of returns into their prices by setting aside a small amount from each sale, rather than making returns harder for customers.

Key Facts

  • Jerry Crawford, a carpet seller, reserved 0.5% of his sales to cover the cost of returns.
  • This small addition to prices made it easy to handle returns without upsetting customers.
  • Some big companies like Amazon also make returns easy as part of good customer service.
  • Recently, many retailers have made returns harder by adding fees, shortening return times, or questioning customers.
  • Making returns difficult can upset customers and harm a store’s reputation.
  • Businesses can estimate return costs from past experience and include them in overhead costs.
  • Charging customers extra for returns can destroy loyalty and damage business in the long run.
  • Small businesses like Jerry’s often manage returns well by building costs into pricing rather than punishing customers.
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