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Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Many happy "returns"

With the christmas over, many customers already have or will be going back to retailers over the next few days week to return the unwanted gifts. For customers, this means long return lines, while for retailers it means lower margins and in many cases, getting merchandise which can no longer be sold as is or requires repackaging. Often times, the returned merchandise as well as excess inventory is resold to retailers such as Big Lots and Overstock.com (Link: Great Deals at Overstock.com) which deal in surplus merchandise. Not only is the returned merchandise resold at lower prices to these surplus retailers but it also creates additional competition for selling retailers. As per an estimate, over $10 billion of merchandise was returned in 2005.

Not surprisingly, many retailers have been becoming strict. Some retailers have started tracking serial returners. Others like Sears and Best Buy impose 15-20% restocking fee on many items.

As a customer, I like the assurance that if I don't like something, I can always return it back within few days. However, I know that some customers abuse the system by buying a thing, knowing fully well in advance that they would return it within few days. Some times the purchased item is returned in a very bad condition. In one of the blogs, a Walmart employee had mentioned that a customer returned thawed turkey after thanksgiving day for full refund because she no longer needed it.

Fortunately, I liked the gifts I received on christmas, so don't have to worry about causing any returns-related hassles on my self or for the retailers.

posted by Ruby @ 6:47 AM

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