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Hello {{first_name | there}} ,

At eCommerce Expo this year, I delivered a talk titled “3 Ways to Monetise Returns and Second Hand” - and I want to share the key messages from it with you over a few of our newsletters between now and Christmas.

We're going to kick off with the returns part.

I added returns to my session because operationally it has many overlaps with a second-hand scheme - you're taking in product from your customers, and processing it in the warehouse to resell it.

But from the customer end, it's a completely different scenario.

It's also one we've been dealing with for decades - so the playbook is somewhat clearer.

Here are my 3 rules for returns success, both sustainability-wise and profit-wise.

1. Sell the right product in the first place.

The best way to lower the costs of your returns operation is not to send the wrong product to the customer in the first place.

I'm not talking about mis-picks here; I'm talking about when a customer has to buy 5 items of clothing to find the one that fits and suits them. When they buy a cable for their TV but then find out it's incompatible and have to change it.

Fixing this relies on giving the customer the right information pre-sale, and helping them make better decisions. With all the AI-pushed focus on improving product content, and AI assistants and better search - this should start to fix itself…

But it also (especially in fashion) involves the buying and merchandising team producing products that take into account customer feedback.

2. Integrate with your second-hand processes

A return should be an item you can put back on the shelf to sell immediately.

The best way to monetise that return is to get it back on the website, as a new product, as quickly as you can before the SKU starts to be discounted at the end of the season.

Time is literally profit.

However, not all returns come back in ‘perfect’ condition - so you also need to have an efficient process for evaluating them, and then a way to sell or dispose of them effectively if the product can't just be put back on the shelf.

This is where the big overlap with second-hand comes in. Dealing with this is why Amazon have their Warehouse deals products - returned items that are missing a manual, or with a damaged box that they can't sell as new, but which they can sell with only a 5-10% discount on new price.

3. Be pragmatic

It's easy with returns to just demand everything comes back in.

You don't want to buy it; it's ours - we MUST have it back.

But when it's a blouse that's selling on the website at 75% off - is it really worth getting it sent back to you?

When it's a sofa that's been damaged - do you really want it back?

Sometimes the best financial and sustainability decision is to refund the customer and let them keep it.

Ideally, with some recommendations on what to do with it so it doesn't just end up straight into landfill.

Watch out for part 2 - why do secondhand?

Keep Optimising!

Chloe

Podcast Host, Author, and now... Chief Success Strategist @ Emetko Media

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SOOO Much has changed in the world of Google Ads in the last few years that if you haven’t done a full strategy review… you really need to.

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Mark Howell is the Director Retailers EMEA at Rithum, where they help the world’s leading brands and retailers list, market, fulfill, and optimise products across every major commerce channel – from catalog to consumer. Rithum’s single connected network now has over 40,000 brands, suppliers and retailers including Walmart, Marks & Spencer, Samsung, and many more. Before his decade at Rithum Mark spent 10 years at Tesco supporting all drop ship and marketplace sellers to list and launch on Tesco.com.

In this episode, Chloe and Mark unpack the hidden engine behind modern eCommerce growth: product data. They explore how brands can get products to market faster, manage listings across multiple marketplaces, and prepare their data for the next wave of AI-powered shopping and search.

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