Returns are good at the end.

Returns are good. They prove that the consumer system can return directly to sender and not become societies problem.

When the fashion industry moved online along with other industries a couple of decades ago, they had a particular consumer experience issue to resolve – the option to try. Traditional shopping experiences rely on the consumer trying items on, seeing how they fit. How does a company achieve this through a digital experience? 

A lot of effort went into this question. Much of which is behind the scenes in stock management, account and payment processing, shipping, packaging and communication. Not an easy task, but 20 years later many online fashion retailers are proud of their returns experience. 

Shopping is an experience of rejecting as much as an experience of consumption. Comfortable rejecting of what is not wanted is important to make this an enjoyable consumer experience. A good returns service can help in making that feel right. 

The returns system also shows us that consumerism has the capability to send items back to the seller accurately, efficiently and with a branded experience built around it. This further shows the potential of making branded endings a possibility. That can also build on the rest of the consumer lifecycle, keep items inside the consumer and provider relationship. Stopping the leak out in to the wider environment.

Since the pandemic online fashion retailers saw an increase in business. Alongside this they saw an increase in returns. The fast-fashion brand BooHoo said a drop in its profits was down to an increase in returns. This has led some retailer to start charging for returns.

Could returns see wider usage? Maybe in the aftermath of a products normal life. Maybe it should be baked in to any purchase – some items returned immediately, some years later. After a happy usage period a product should end up where it started, at the manufactures depot.

Joe Macleod

Joe Macleod is founder of the worlds first customer ending business. A veteran of product development industry with decades of experience across service, digital and product sectors.

Head of Endineering at AndEnd. TEDx Speaker. Wired says “An energetic Englishman, Macleod advises companies on how to game out their endgames. Every product faces a cycle of endings. It's important to plan for each of them. Not all companies do." Fast Company says “Joe Macleod wants brands to focus on what happens to products at the end of their life cycle—not just for the environment but for the entire consumer experience.”

He is author of the Ends book, that iFixIt called “the best book about consumer e-waste”. And the new book –Endineering, that people are saying “defines and maps out a whole new sub-discipline of study”. The DoLectures consider the Endineering book one of the best business books of 2022.

www.mrmacleod.com
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