Joe Marcaurelle, vice president and assistant general manager with Inmar Post-Purchase Solutions, explains how online merchants can use the post-purchase experience to change the returns process from a cost burden to a competitive advantage. 

The internet has given consumers an unprecedented ability to search for the products they want to buy. But it’s the post-purchase experience that keeps them coming back to particular brands, Marcaurelle says.

The quality of online merchants’ service can be broken down into three categories: “delighters, meeting the needs, and must-haves,” he says. And what spurs “delight” can very quickly evolve into “table stakes” — something that’s necessary for the retailer to survive in a highly competitive marketplace.

That’s especially true in the case of returns. Leading online retailers are making it easy for shoppers to return items, allowing them to print labels at home, process the return online, and receive status reports on their refund. The goal is to keep them informed, which translates into happy and loyal customers. On the other hand, Marcaurelle says, studies show that an overwhelming percentage of online shoppers will stop doing business with a particular retailer if they have an unfavorable post-purchase experience.

Amazon.com set the standard for service excellence in e-commerce, and all online merchants must follow. In essence, it’s about acquiring a whole new mindset — from thinking of returns as a cost burden to treating the process as a weapon for competitive advantage.

To make that happen, retailers need to be able to share data across the post-purchase journey, much as they’re already doing with forward order fulfillment and delivery. The resulting intelligence is a boon for the retailer as well, allowing it to monitor the reason behind a return, and make decisions as to its best disposition, whether that means inspecting a high-value item or just letting the customer keep the undesired product.