New Look has partnered with ZigZag Global to introduce return kiosks in some of its shops in a bid to tackle the industry’s ongoing returns problem.
The booths are being trialed in 10 of the fashion retailer’s stores across the UK and offer customers “a free and convenient return option”.
The move aims to give customers a simpler post-purchase experience and reduce the workload on staff, whilst allowing the retailer to collect more actionable data on in-store returns.
New Look started charging £1.99 for online returns back in February, following in the footsteps of Boohoo and Zara.
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Senior product manager Rachel Troke said: “One of the key drivers for launching the kiosks was that we weren’t getting the right data from our customers on why they were returning in store.
“A lot of items were being marked down as unwanted. A trend that didn’t match up with what we were seeing with our online returns.”
“We suspected that customers were perhaps too shy to dive into the exact reason for making the return with the store colleague.
“The in-store kiosks bring back that comforting anonymity you get with online returns for the customers whilst providing better data for our buying teams.
“We will now get close to 100% coverage across our eCommerce returns, collecting valuable data that will allow us to make smarter, more-informed decisions.”
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