Amid the growing omnichannel squeeze, particularly with managing online returns and reducing shrink caused by theft, fraud and other contributing factors, eight in 10 retailers said minimising fraud is a significant challenge (82 per cent) and the ability to forecast demand is important to their organisation (86 per cent), said a report by US-based mobile computing company Zebra Technologies Corporation on Tuesday.
Zebra Technologies, its 16th "Annual Global Shopper" study, found that in APAC, including India, retailers’ responses stand at 74 per cent and 89 per cent, respectively. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), retailers lost $112 billion due to fraud in 2022, up from nearly $94 billion in 2021. The Zebra study indicates 36 per cent of global retailers (40 per cent in APAC, including India) believe better analytics on shrink could help drive profitability.
Many retailers expect to deploy loss prevention analytics (49 per cent globally, 55 per cent in APAC) and demand planning and forecasting (54 per cent globally, 61 per cent in APAC) by 2026. While omnichannel shopping causes challenges for retailers, most shoppers prefer options. Nearly eight in 10 global and APAC, including India, shoppers favour a blend of online and in-store shopping, while 75 per cent global and 72 per cent of APAC shoppers choose to shop with online retailers that have a brick-and-mortar location.
As omnichannel shopping continues to grow, the volume of returns increases along with it. Around seven in 10 of global and APAC, including India, retailers say the pressure is mounting to improve the efficiency and expense of managing online orders, returns, and the fulfillment process. Six in 10 retailers say they are upgrading their returns management technology by 2026. In APAC, including India, more retailers are in the process of upgrading at 74 per cent, 12 per cent higher than global retailers surveyed.
Store associates will be pleased with this technology investment. Among associates managing returns from online orders, nearly three-quarters (74 per cent globally and in APAC) cite frequent returners as their top challenge. This year, the ease of making returns has moved ahead as a leading reason shoppers choose to shop in stores, outpacing comparison shopping. Where easy returns for global shoppers have increased slightly (32 per cent in 2022 to 33 per cent in 2023), APAC shoppers reported the greatest increase of 7 per cent, from 32 per cent in 2022 to 39 per cent in 2023. The increase of returns has impacted retailers globally, growing to $1.8T according to the IHL Group.
“Retailers are recognising that technology needs to be smartly employed when dealing with returns,” Subramaniam Thiruppathi, Director of Sales for India and Sub-Continent, Zebra Technologies, said in a statement.
“While consumers have higher expectations to easily return items more frequently, retailers find themselves in a tailspin trying to manage the increased expenses associated with inventory visibility, reverse logistics and a high-level of returns."
The returns conundrum also impacts related industries, particularly warehousing. Retailers are tapping into the power of technology to help manage returns with 62 per cent globally (68 per cent in APAC) saying they plan to deploy reverse logistics technology by 2026 to better manage fulfillment pressures. Nearly three in 10 (31 per cent globally, 32% in APAC) of retailers think charging a fee for online orders from frequent returners could potentially improve the overall profitability of online orders.
Consumers Dialing Into Digital Checkouts
Since 2020, the number of shoppers who favour digital payment applications have increased substantially; solutions like Zebra Pay align with this trend. Those preferring pay/checkout anywhere in-store almost doubled from 15 per cent to 26 per cent, mobile payments jumped from 33per cent to 50 per cent and “just walk-out” to avoid a long checkout line doubled from 14 per cent to 30 per cent.
In APAC shoppers who preferred pay/checkout anywhere jumped from 16 per cent to 28 per cent, opted for mobile payments went from 46 per cent to 58 per cent and walked out due to long queues soared from 17 per cent to 33 per cent. Meanwhile, more than 4-in-10 (48 per cent globally) of consumers opt for self-checkouts, with three quarters (75 per cent globally) saying it helps improve their experience.