Returns are an unfortunate and expensive reality of ecommerce. In 2024, retail product returns cost double what they did in 2019, and that doesn’t seem to be improving, either. The good news is that many returns are preventable. Many product returns are due to avoidable mistakes, such as inaccurate descriptions or misleading photos that give shoppers the wrong impression of what they’re buying.
This gap between what shoppers expect and what they actually receive is where Product Information Management (PIM) software comes in. By centralizing and perfecting your product data, a PIM ensures customers see consistent, accurate details across every channel. When shoppers know exactly what they’re getting, they’re much less likely to be surprised or disappointed, dramatically reducing the need to return items.
Here’s how to reduce customer returns with the help of PIM software.
The High Cost of Product Returns for Ecommerce Merchants
Retail returns cost merchants almost $900 billion in 2024, nearly double the 2019 figure. For a small to mid-sized ecommerce business, those return costs (shipping, restocking, refunds) add up fast and eat into profit margins. With losses like these, ecommerce returns management is extremely important if you want to run a healthy and successful business.
Beyond the direct costs, handling returns is labour-intensive. Staff must inspect returned items, update inventory, process refunds, etc. This causes unnecessary operational strain for merchants, who could be spending all this time and labour on improving or growing other aspects of their business.
High return rates can also signal that there’s something not quite “right” with your products or descriptions. If shoppers consistently feel let down and have to return items, they may lose faith in your store. Simply put, frequent returns lead to frustrated customers, which hurts long-term loyalty.
Why Do Customers Return Products?
There are many reasons why customers return products. These include items that are the wrong size or fit, items damaged in transit, discrepancies between the product and its online photos, or simply a change of mind. Some shoppers engage in practices such as "bracketing," where they purchase multiple variations of an item with the intention of returning those that don't suit them, or "wardrobing," which involves buying an expensive outfit for a single event with no intention of keeping it.
While some returns are inevitable, such as someone picking up the wrong size or colour, many are actually preventable and stem from issues the retailer can address. While it may be easy to blame customers for returns, retailers can make changes that effectively reduce product returns and save them a significant amount of money and time.
A large chunk of those retailer mistakes boils down to poor product information. For example, misleading or inaccurate product descriptions and images give shoppers the wrong impression of what they’re buying. No wonder 59% of consumers have stated they’ve returned an item because the online description was inaccurate. If the product received isn’t what the customer expected from the webpage, a return is almost guaranteed.
Essentially, many returns result from a disconnect between what the shopper expected and what they got. Addressing information gaps and inaccuracies can significantly reduce product returns.
Benefits of Reducing Returns
Every return prevented is a sale kept. By lowering your return rate, you keep more of your revenue in-house. Think of it this way: reducing returns is equivalent to boosting sales/improving your conversion rate. If 10% fewer orders are sent back, that’s 10% more revenue realized without needing to acquire new customers. This can be huge for small-to mid-sized ecommerce merchants operating on thin margins.
A customer who keeps their purchase is more likely to make another purchase. Frequent returns can turn first-time buyers into one-time shoppers who never come back. On the other hand, when customers are satisfied the first time and get what they expected, it builds trust.
At a time when people aren’t shy about posting complaints on social media, your brand reputation can suffer if your product information is inaccurate and your customers are unhappy. Conversely, a reputation for products that arrive just as described is a competitive advantage. Shoppers will choose the store that’s transparent and accurate about products.
Lastly, there’s the operational efficiency gained from reducing the number of returns received. Your team spends less time processing returns and more time on growth-focused activities, like adding new products or improving marketing. Warehouse operations run smoother with fewer incoming returns to sort out, ultimately saving labour costs and reducing complexity in your business.
How to Reduce Returns in Ecommerce with Product Information Management
While there are many valid reasons online shoppers return products that can’t really be improved upon, PIM software can slice your online store’s return rate in a few simple ways.
Here’s how to reduce return rates with a PIM:
1. Consistent, Accurate, and Centralized Data
With a PIM, you maintain product information in a single central repository, so all channels pull from the same accurate data pool. This single source of truth ensures customers see consistent details across your website, mobile app, and marketplace.
It eliminates the risk of contradictory or outdated information causing confusion and prevents people from heading straight to customer service after receiving their online purchases and discovering an inconsistency.
When something about a product changes or needs correction, your PIM lets you update it centrally and push the change everywhere. This agility means potential issues can be fixed quickly, fighting off future returns. Conversely, without PIM, you might fix the information on your website but overlook your Amazon listing, for example, leading to continued returns from that channel.
Validation features in a PIM system also help flag anomalies, such as when a numerical field contains an out-of-range value or when a weight is entered as “10 lb” in one place and “10 kg” in another. By catching errors before the information reaches customers, your PIM prevents them from translating into returns.
2. Complete and Enriched Content with Rich Descriptions and Attributes
PIM tools ensure product completeness, meaning every product listing has all the required information before it goes live. Features like completeness checks will literally prevent publishing a product that’s missing key details or images.
You can set up rules so that if, say, the material or dimensions field is empty, the product won’t appear online until it’s filled. This guarantees that customers always get a full picture of the product, reducing the chance of “I didn’t know it didn’t come with X” or “I didn’t realize it was Y size wide, so I’m returning it.”
When using a PIM, your team can easily manage a greater depth of product information. You can include multiple attributes and localized descriptions for different regions. A PIM enables you to enrich each product with everything from size charts to ingredient lists and usage instructions.
3. Better Images and Media Management
Many PIM solutions either include Digital Asset Management (DAM) or integrate with one. This means you can link the correct images and videos to each product record. Having the right images and ensuring they display correctly across all channels reduces the “item looked different online” issue, which can significantly impact your bottom line if left unaddressed.
4. Scalability and Efficiency
Perhaps you currently have only a few dozen products, but as you expand, maintaining accurate product information becomes exponentially more challenging. A PIM scales with you. Whether you have 100 products or 100,000, it keeps the information organized and uniform.
This is one of the most important factors to consider for ecommerce returns management at scale; big retailers attribute much of their returns reduction to having solid PIM processes in place. With thousands of products, manual checks would let errors slip through the cracks.
5. Localization and Translation
Similar to simplifying scalability, PIMs enable ecommerce merchants to expand to new markets relatively easily, unlocking an entire new demographic’s worth of potential customers. It’s difficult enough for a primarily online retailer to expand to retail or start selling on marketplaces without throwing different regions into the mix.
PIMs help you display multiple currencies, languages, and product specifications and dimensions without the headache. This reduces your chances of making mistakes and having to manage the returns that may result from them.
Conclusion
Returns might never be completely eliminated, but with the right approach, you can significantly reduce them. A PIM solution provides your business with a single source of truth for product information, ensuring that every title, description, specification, and image is accurate and up-to-date across all channels. The result? Shoppers get exactly what they expected, and you get to keep more sales instead of losing revenue to unnecessary returns.
As an Akeneo Solutions Partner Agency, Blue Badger has the skills you need to get started with a PIM like Akeneo. From initial implementation and setup to ongoing support and maintenance services, we can help you ensure consistent product data across all your channels. Get in touch with us today to learn more.
