While shopping online does provide a significant amount of convenience for consumers, there is one elements that ecommerce does not offer – the ability to try on or test out products. Retailers in the United Kingdom are seeing a large number of returns from web shoppers, and they are having a difficult time fighting this trend.

Information Week reports that businesses throughout the U.K. are having to process merchandise returns of items bought online, as consumers are not pleased with the products they purchased and choose to send them back. Analysts state that between 25 percent and 50 percent of items paid for on the web are sent back to retailers, and companies are also dealing with a large influx at the time of the year due to people returning gifts they received during the holidays, the source notes.

So how can merchants reduce the number of returns they are experiencing? Biz Report suggests that businesses incorporate more visual elements into their websites. Giving shoppers the option of seeing products with a 360 degree spin as well as 3D imaging will help them make more informed purchasing decisions and result in fewer returns for companies.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Tuesday, February 5th, 2013 at 4:33 am .