Avanni's increasing appetite for shopping online - 20 times a
month on average - should delight electronic marketplaces such as Flipkart and
Amazon. But it's shoppers like her who drive them up the wall, because Avanni,
by her own admission, returns to them about 30% of what she buys. Ecommerce
firms in India have begun to crackdown on what they say is a rampant abuse of
their returns policy, tracking shoppers' behaviours, blacklisting entire
localities or even rating individual buyers the way Uber drivers rank
their passengers.
While retailers globally allow buyers to return goods within a
specified period, online marketplaces in the country are facing an unprecedented
rate of wares being sent back, causing them logistical nightmares and
potentially larger losses than factored in for product returns. Online shoppers
in India retuned goods worth an estimated $800 million to $1 billion in the
fiscal year ended March 31, according to various estimates, and the problem is
threatening to become more acute with rapid industry growth. Amazon, Jabong and
Snapdeal have started keeping a watch on their buyers' behaviors. Flipkart has
developed an internal rating for its shoppers. "We have designed systems
and processes that immediately detect patterns that predict misuse (of returns
policy) before it happens," said a spokesperson for Amazon India, which
offers a 'no-questions-asked' returns policy in categories such as fashion
jewellery. "Some customers might want to misuse this privilege and we take
that very seriously.
Our
systems keenly look out for indicators of misuse." Electronic retailers
embraced the policy of product returns mainly to convince shoppers to buy
gadgets and clothes online without having to worry about being stranded with a
defective product or a poor fit. On average, product returns average 6-8% for
most online retailers in India, but for some this climbs to as high as 25% according to industry estimates. Each time a buyer returns a
product, the ecommerce firm has to bear an additional cost of Rs 50 to send it
back to the vendor. Online retailers say many times, the products are returned
after use. Back With a Bang "Internally, e-tailers do flag customers with
a history of high return rate and rank them accordingly, with an accuracy of
85% to 90%."
anakiram Ganesan CEO and co-founder of MineWhat Product returns average
6-8% for etailers in India Many customers admit to returns after single use
Most cite size issues on products bought online Items that show signs of use
can't be accepted: CaratLane Jabong tracks shopping history on case-to-case
basis eBay has set up a team to monitors returns, ratings Data mining cos
even detect localities abusing policy $20 B BY 20 $13 B NOW India's e-commerce
industry to be worth PricewaterhouseCoopers pegs it at about Jabong and
Flipkart now check if a product has been used before accepting it back.
Snapdeal has prescribed legal action against buyers trying to game the system.
The firms declined to disclose specific numbers on product returns. Avanni, who
declined to be identified by her last name, admitted she has returned products
to various retailers. " "I wasn't aware of any such rating of
buyers.I won't be comfortable as a shopper if an e-commerce site tracks my history," she said. "If they publish rating disclosing what kind of shopper you are, that would be downright nasty!" With 8 million shipments a month, Flipkart claims to have return rates in the low-single digits. "We do rate buyers to an extent. It plays a role when there are issues around orders," said a spokeswoman for the company. It plays a role when there are issues around orders," said a spokeswoman for the company. Snapdeal checks products being sent back to determine the legitimacy of the return claim. Online jewelers CaratLane and BlueStone also inspect products being returned. "Earlier the buyer ratings were public on eBay but currently we keep them for internal monitoring," said Latif Nathani, vice president and managing director, eBay India Pvt Ltd.
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