If you haven’t invested in a returns and claims solution, but you need one – you are already paying for it

100 years ago Henry Ford said this on the topic of investing in machines for manufacturing his cars:

“If you need a machine and don’t buy it, then you will ultimately find that you have paid for it, and don’t have it.”

This means that if there was a machine Ford needed but postponed investing in, he knew that he was already paying the price…

The cost came in the form of lost productivity, higher salaries, lower quality, and lower capacity to grow.

The same idea goes for today’s brands and retailers selling physical products in industries such as Furniture and fashion.

Think about it.

When it comes to finding solutions to improve your operations and profitability, but you haven’t made the investment yet - well - then you are already paying the price!

This is very true for how many brands and retailers handle their returns and claims today. The price may not look like money out of pocket, but it takes a different form:

• too much manual work
• wasteful processes because “that’s how we always did it”
• poor data collection which makes it difficult to improve products and processes

It might seem like it’s “free” to keep doing what you are already doing.

But every day your current setup costs you dearly:

• In lost productivity and profitability
• Suboptimal experience for customers.
• Unnecessary stress for your team.

When you finally invest and implement the new solution you start to see your productivity and profitability go up and customers will congratulate you for your work.

But how do you actually know if you need a machine?

Or rather:

How do you know whether you need a better solution for handling your product returns and claims?

Well, do you repeatedly handle 1000s of product returns and claims manually or with different systems not built for the purpose such as e-mail or your standard support help desk?

If your answer is “Yes!” you most likely have the opportunity to improve your process and profitability by investing in a better solution.

There are other signs you need a better solution.

• Your team primarily handles returns and claims manually.
• Customers often don’t send the right information to effectively handle their claims.
• There’s unnecessary back and forth emailing with customers.
• Countless stakeholders are involved in your returns and claims process.
• You data is incomplete and it’s difficult or impossible to report accurately on the key returns metrics.

We have written in depth about The 7 Pains of Returns Management we typically see for brands and retailers.

If you recognize your organization then you know you need a better solution.

And that you are already paying the price!

If this is you, we’d love to help - book a chat and we can talk about how your setup can be improved.