Binging and purging: it’s not just a food-related problem. In fact, shoppers are far more likely to buy more than they intend to keep than people with eating disorders who eat more than they intend to hold down. It might seem to be a disturbing and/or unsettling analogy, but for eCommerce companies, serial returners are creating a problem that is both disturbing and unsettling to their profits.Clear Returns, a U.K.-based company dealing in return intelligence platforms, has a constantly moving ticker...

Most retailers are familiar with “shopping bulimics” – the consumers who make purchases and promptly return their merchandise. Retail consultant Kurt Salmon told the Wall Street Journal in an article last year that one third of all Internet transactions result in returns. While this might not be the best-case scenario for retailers, some of whom lose millions a year on returns, it’s important to note that consumer behavior often dictates best practices for retailers. Just as marketers will seek out many...

Take a guess on what days are the busiest for the U.S. Postal Service and FedEx, and you might be surprised. It’s not the days leading up to tax day – it’s the days just before Christmas. In fact, both shipping entities are expecting to break records this year on the amount of packages being shipped from coast to coast. The U.S. Postal Service estimated that they would process more than 640 million holiday cards on Monday, Dec. 15. On the...

Headlines are popping up about how UPS, USPS and FedEx are hiring more delivery staff to keep up with the upcoming holiday demand. And it’s not too far-fetched to assume that the uptick in hiring is in part due to issues that came up last year, including late and lost packages. So although it’s great to hear that the major delivery organizations are stepping up their game, the shipping hiccups that happened last year weren’t 100 percent their fault. Online businesses, too, were to blame, and they,...

When Jeff Bezos told Charlie Rose on 60 Minutes that drones might one day be able to deliver packages the same day Amazon shoppers ordered a product, the rumor mill was set on fire. How would it work? When would it start? What about the regulations? What about the cost? Regardless of the oodles of questions and comments coming from said rumor mill, Amazon’s drones were nothing more than a vision for the future. But as it turned out, Amazon’s same-day...

Since its inception, the Internet has broken down international borders and created a host of selling opportunities for businesses around the globe. And although there has been a steady uptick of cross-border online sales since, there are still some business owners that need to pop an Advil or two before even thinking about making the big leap overseas.   And that’s because international commerce comes with its own set of issues, such as country-specific regulations and requirements, additional shipping charges, and duties...

As the USPS announcement to partner with Amazon to offer Sunday deliveries made headlines, two additional news items flew below the general public’s radar. The first was in regard to major revenue losses for the 2013 fiscal year – the seventh year running.   “The U.S. Postal Service ended the 2013 fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2012 – Sept. 30, 2013) with a net loss of $5 billion,” explained a press release found on the USPS newsroom website. “This marks the 7th...

When shoppers hear the word free, their ears perk up a bit. And believe it or not, their wallets are often prone to open up a little bit more, too. In the article titled “Is Free Shipping More Attractive Than A Dollar Discount?” published on GetElastic.com, studies show that free shipping can be more powerfully persuasive than a discount worth more.   According to GetElastic.com’s research efforts: 61% online shoppers prefer to shop with a retailer that offers free shipping than...