Rethinking Returns

Amazon is testing a new feature in an effort to cut down a returns: adding a ‘frequently returned’ label to products that are just that.

And The Everything Store isn’t the only retailer trying to find a solution to the returns problem. But shoppers aren’t here for it. The numbers aren’t great for any brand trying to keep shoppers loyal or tout sustainability:

• 34% of Americans have dropped a brand for introducing paid returns
• 40% for shortening return windows
• 22% say return charges are totes unfair
• 18% just return unwanted items to the trash

So now brands are scrambling for other ways to mitigate the problem.

Livestream? More like Deadstream

From a Wired piece on livestream shopping in the US:

• “I haven’t seen one success case,” says Marina Jiang, an expert in cross-border ecommerce and founder of The Unoeuf Creative Consulting, a social marketing agency. “If there is one proof of concept in the United States, I would be willing to try it myself.”

See.99

Using the 99 price trick in your next sale? Maximize its effectiveness by displaying the original price along with the discount, it’ll make the savings seem larger. Or avoid the tactic all together if your product involves multiple pieces with individual pricing or if you sell high quality impulse buys and little luxuries.

Riches In The Niches

Wanting to start your own ecomm business to test pricing hacks on? Oberlo has 7 niches for you to consider for your fledgling shop:

1. Home office equipment
2. Eco-friendly products
3. Home workout & fitness equipment (noticing a trend? Pandemic shifted behavior isn’t shifting all the way back)
4. Recommerce (noticing a trend? People want to feel like they’re doing good for the planet (unless you’re charging for returns of course))
5. Pet products
6. Home decor (the housing market is likely to make people focus on feathering their nest instead of flying the coop)
7. Menswear (men need clothes too!)

Pay Up; Or, You Know, Soon-ish

Apple Pay Later has finally arrived.