The consignment company has seen the consisting growth of “returns” not only to e-shops with clothing. For this reason, PPL is introducing a new service to facilitate the process for both e-shops and their customers. With the PPL Parcel CZ Return product, vendors can add a return label to the parcel. The customer then simply sticks it on the received parcel and sends it back.
With the new service, PPL is lending a hand both to e-shops and their customers, for whom the option of easy returns or replacements is an important factor in choosing a store. Return labels with pre-printed address data for returning goods simplify the return process and communication between customers and e-shops. The vendor merely has to decide whether to offer customers the service for free or for a fee. The customer can then choose whether to submit the parcel at the Parcelshop or request pick-up by a PPL driver.
“To date, we only handled returns with selected e-shops, without a universal solution. Now we offer this option to all of our cooperating online stores. We also designed the service to be maximally user-friendly,” explains Milan Loidl, Marketing Manager for PPL CZ s.r.o.
“In our web application, vendors can choose to print a return label, which they enclose in the sent parcel. If the customer is dissatisfied with the goods, they merely stick the label on the very same parcel and submit it to one of our 2,000 PPL Parcelshops,” Milan Loidl describes the process.
“Returns” are on the rise
Dissatisfaction with their purchases is currently the most common reason for which Czech return parcels as private individuals. A January survey conducted for PPL by Nielsen Admosphere showed that 39% of Czechs return parcels to vendors. While 25% of them send parcels to return unsuitable goods, every seventh customer (14%) replaces goods using the parcel service.
According to the figures to date from cooperating e-shops, for which PPL has returned goods, the number of “returns” is rising consistently. The year-on-year rise is in the tens, if not hundreds of percent. However, these are not just shops with fashion, but also other goods. People most often return goods via the PPL Parcelshops.
Data also shows that goods are most often returned by women, more often respondents with a university degree and people from small and medium-sized towns. On the contrary, people in the younger age group and people in villages return goods less often.