
Driving Retail Customer Experiences Through Collaboration and Partnership
Driving Retail Customer Experiences Through Collaboration and Partnership
Delivering top-tier customer experiences is one of the main priorities for retailers today. However, delivering exceptional customer experiences isn’t just about going the extra mile – it’s also about creating meaningful strategies, designing personalized discounts and utilizing technology to elevate shopping experiences. All this doesn’t happen in isolation, retailers need to collaborate with leading industry experts for specific areas. The power of collaboration is unmatched.
Collaboration between retailers, technology vendors, logistics companies, and data platforms has become a critical lever for unlocking seamless, personalized customer experiences at scale. By partnering with experienced tech vendors, retailers can significantly bolster their capabilities, enabling them to better cater to the evolving customer expectations. As the industry continues to evolve, partnerships will define not just how retailers operate – but also how shoppers engage, transact, and remain loyal.
In this blog, we explore how enabling partnerships is beneficial to retailers as they provide new resources and expertise that brands may not initially have access to, allowing them to grow and deliver seamless experiences to their customers.
The Benefits of Retail Collaborations
The benefits of collaboration and partnerships go beyond operational efficiency. Each touchpoint of the customer journey can be enhanced through effective collaboration, from improved inventory visibility and point-of-sale (POS) flexibility to bespoke personalization strategies.
- Operational Benefits – Operations become simplified through deploying technology solutions. Retailers can experience improved visibility over inventory management, with stock updating in real-time. This means that not only do customers leave satisfied with what they are looking for, but operational costs and the risk of stock outs are reduced. Teamwork Commerce’s RFID stock counter app, in partnership with Bluebird, allows retailers to streamline their stock count procedure and have a more accurate view over inventory. Similarly, Teamwork Commerce’s Mobile Point-of-Sale (POS) allows retailers to provide customers with a seamless shopping experience. The application provides staff with real-time information at their fingertips while allowing them to complete checkout transactions from any part of a store – significantly boosting user experience for staff as well as convenience for shoppers.
- Elevated Customer Experience – Ultimately, operations powered by effective collaborations will enhance the overall customer experience. Self-checkout implementations streamline the transactional process proving more convenient for customers. Implementing solutions such as RFID Powered Self-Checkout allows customers to complete transactions at their own convenience, significantly reducing wait times and streamlining the final touchpoint of a customer’s retail experience. RFID Powered Self-Checkout instantly scan items once they are placed at the terminal, taking away any hassle associated with the checkout process. This also allows more transactions to be completed during operational hours – increasing profit for retailers. Facilitating these innovative solutions both online and in-store, tailoring products to targeted individuals, boosts customer omnichannel experience making them more likely to become a loyal customer.
At the same time, integrating a secure customer relationship management platform (CRM) facilitates meaningful customer relationships. Having all customer information in one location enables retailers to develop everyone’s experiences based on all the data stored. This means customers can easily be segmented and targeted for sales and ultimately shoppers receive a more personalized and bespoke experience through customer centric approach.
- Improved Decision Making – Collaborating with partners that provide effective data and analytics insights enables retailers to make more informed decisions based on real data. These meaningful insights ensure that effective decisions can be carried out for the business’ long-term success. The data will update in real-time and will provide retailers with a complete view of performance and KPIs for reporting, ensuring that retailers are always ahead of customers’ needs and remain in line with competitors.
4 Things to Consider When Collaborating with a Technology Vendor
- How the vendor has performed in the past: When selecting the right partner, it’s important to be aware of what the vendor can provide, who they have worked with before and how their solutions can be tailored to individual brand needs. This will ensure that retailers save both time and money when investing in the correct partner and can guarantee success
- A unified relationship: When collaborating with a partner, there needs to be teamwork and that unified feeling, not just a transactional process. Partners should feel as if their needs are being catered to, and that they are receiving extra value at every opportunity
- Continuous improvement: Trends, wants and needs for customers are constantly evolving. To keep up with the growing consumer demand, it’s important that vendors facilitate these changes and work to continually improve their solutions for the better
- Return on investment (ROI): Ultimately, what defines the success of any business partnership is the return on investment. If the partner isn’t meeting the ROI requirement, it’s worth re-evaluating
Looking Ahead…
Retail doesn’t stop evolving, and neither do we. At Teamwork Commerce we strive to empower retailers with tailored innovative technology solutions, catered to their growth and success. We value each brand that chooses to partner with us, considering their individual goals and needs when implementing the solutions that work best for them.
To find our more information about partnering with Teamwork Commerce and deploying our innovative solutions, get in touch today.
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Cooling Down Returns: 3 Ways Retailers Can Streamline Their Reverse Supply Chain This Summer
Cooling Down Returns: 3 Ways Retailers Can Streamline Their Reverse Supply Chain This Summer
The returns dilemma doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. According to Capital One, consumers returned $362 billion in merchandise from online sales and $324 billion from in-store sales during 2024. This equates to 24.5% of eCommerce sales and 8.71% of brick-and-mortar purchases.
As we progress toward the summer months, returns are only expected to become more of a challenge to brands. Vacations and refreshed summer wardrobes present a prime opportunity for fashion retailers to boost sales; they also bring a heightened risk of product returns.
There are several reasons why customers return products. One popular factor lies in bracketing, where consumers buy multiple items with the intention of only keeping one. Other frequent causes include buyer’s remorse, dissatisfaction with product fit or quality, and receiving damaged goods directly from the retailer.
Ultimately, returns will never completely disappear. However, in our latest blog, we explore three ways in which retailers can begin to mitigate the damage done by returns to their bottom line…
Reducing Return Fraud Through RFID
Before even considering the challenges of managing returns themselves, retailers must consider the negative impact that return fraud can have. According to Appriss Retail and Deloitte, fraudulent returns and claims resulted in a $103 billion loss for retailers in 2024. Beyond the immediate financial loss, such fraud undermines customer trust, inflates operational costs, and can distort inventory and sales data, leading to poor business decisions. As a result, retailers may have to implement stricter return policies, which can negatively affect the overall customer experience and loyalty.
Item-level RFID enables retailers to track their entire inventory at item-level, with complete accuracy, in real-time. RFID allows brands to create effective supply chain and retail operations, streamlining manufacturing, transport and storage costs. It also enables brands to efficiently maintain shop floor stock levels. However, its value doesn’t end once products are purchased.
When customers return RFID-tagged items, in-store associates simply need to scan the product and they are provided with full product and transaction details. From here they can verify the original purchase and trigger the return.
In a world where returns fraud is on the rise, RFID is already playing a prominent role in effectively tracking and distinguishing return fraud attempts.
Managing the Reverse Supply Chain
Once a return is verified and processed, RFID tracking can allow retailers to clearly see products move through the reverse supply chain. This process can be made much more efficient through order management software.
Fragmented returns cause more issues for retailers than many might realise. The longer products spend in the reverse supply chain, the longer it takes to get them back to the sales floor. The longer it takes to get back to the sales floor, the lower their resale value. If this process takes too long, products cannot be resold at all.
However, with clear visibility of the reverse supply chain, and with the right order management software controlling the process, retailers can streamline the entire process. They can increase their returns management practices and ensure that items make their way back to the supply chain as quickly as possible. This allows brands to maximize the resale value of returned products, reducing losses.
Teamwork Commerce’s Returns Manager creates this efficiency while maintaining a high-quality customer experience.
It allows retailers to quickly and efficiently process returns and automatically refund consumers regardless of the original sales channel. Pre-approved return codes included with shipping documents allow customers to easily return or exchange items with minimal effort.
Taking Steps to Stop Returns at the Source
While returns will always exist, that doesn’t mean they can’t be reduced. Retailers can take steps to increase the likelihood of customers keeping their products by meeting their product expectations right away.
One way retailers can achieve this is through personalization.
By helping store visitors source the perfect products on their first attempt, retailers can begin to reduce the frequency of the need for customers to return items. Equipped with a Secure Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform, retailers can leverage secure data to better understand their customers on an individual level.
They can easily see purchasing preferences through transaction history, and make recommendations based on reliable information. Whether through sizing, colour or style, retailers can help customers find the right product, quickly. This reduces the need to exchange items or even bracket their purchases.
Overall, customers receive a better experience, and retailers can minimize the damage of returns.
Small Steps Make a Big Difference
Retailers can mitigate returns this summer in a variety of ways. Each solution has its own individual benefits, but when combined, brands can significantly reduce the impact of returns and improve their bottom line.
Interested in seeing how Teamwork Commerce can help your retail brand reduce the negative impact of returns on your retail business? Get in touch today.
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Tech Trends That Have Been Heating Up The Summer So Far…
Tech Trends That Have Been Heating Up The Summer So Far…
As summer approaches, shoppers are refreshing their wardrobe tailored to the summer season. This puts the pressure on retailers across the UK to pull out all the stops and maximise sales. With an increase in customer demand and an appetite for new items, retailers won’t want to fall behind competitors.
The past couple of months have been eventful to say the least for retailers in the UK, they have faced their share of challenges from rising expectations to unexpected disruptions. Retail giant, M&S, has made a strong comeback, reporting a full recovery and resuming sales online after facing a major cyberattack that largely impacted revenue.
With that in mind, let’s take some time to reflect on recent highs and lows that are shaping the retail technology headlines today and explore what we can expect to see next
Celebrating Loyal Customers
It’s more important than ever for retailers to create tailored and personalised experiences for their customers. Loyalty schemes and benefits programmes are a powerful tool to strengthen customer relationships, encourage repeat purchases and build a sense of community and exclusivity.
So, what have we seen so far? Supermarket giant Tesco, discovered a creative way to celebrate its Clubcard anniversary by hosting a 90s-themed nightclub experience igniting a unique nostalgic experience for shoppers. Tesco offered its most loyal customers the chance to earn extra Clubcard points and prizes in a memorable way.
Athletic apparel may seem like a crowded market at the moment, however, the successful gym wear retailer, Gymshark, is continuing to capitaliseon the momentum. The brand has recently announced its first-ever loyalty programme, rewarding customers with experience points (XP) for interacting with the brand through making purchases or completing a training programme through it’s workout app. This has given customers the exclusive feel of being part of the Gymshark community, fostering long-term customer relationships and loyalties.
Similarly, fashion and lifestyle giant ASOS, has enhanced its approach to customer loyalty. After experiencing negative backlash when closing a number of customer accounts due to a new returns rule, ASOS responded by launching a new tiered loyalty programme. Designed to elevate the experience, customers are offered exclusive benefits and rewards, growing in value each time they shop. This integration represents the brand’s continued investment in customer experience and satisfaction.
AI Enhancing the Customer Experience
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is quickly becoming a key part of modern retail operations. More and more retailers are using AI to streamline processes, boost efficiency and create personalised, engaging customer experiences. If you haven’t started exploring its potential, now is a great time to consider how it could benefit your brand.
Toy retailer giant Mattel has announced a new strategic partnership to support AI-powered products and experiences, enhancing business operations and driving innovation. Incorporating ChatGPT into its product development, Mattel aims to better engage with its audiences,spark innovation and showcase its commitment to embracing cutting-edge AI technology to enhance product development operations and customer interactions.
Similarly, to boost in-store retail operations, coffee giant Starbucks is deploying a new generative AI solution. The initiative is designed to assist in-store associates with task efficiency, whether it’s completing orders, resolving mechanical issues or providing real-time conversational responses. The goal of the partnership is to strengthen the connection between the barista and customer, while reducing wait times for customers and overall improving service.
Blending the Omnichannel Experience
Retailers are continuing to transform the customer journey by seamlessly integrating digital convenience with immersive in-store experiences, ensuring that consumers are engaged across each touchpoint.
Recently, Skoda has become the first European automotive brand to offer an Amazon car showroom. This new venture with Amazon offers real-time vehicle availability and enables customers to explore the full Skoda range before choosing the specific retailer. Customers can select their chosen Skoda model through the Amazon site or app and will then be connected to their preferred retailer. This also saves time and creates a positive brand reputation. By implementing this streamlined solution, the car-buying journey becomes more convenient for shoppers.
Striving to create unique experiences for its customers, Superdrug has developed a Beauty Playground immersive experience, which was first unveiled at its Westfield Stratford flagship store. This concept is expected to extend to 30 of its top performing stores across the UK by August. The initiative aims to create a playful shopping environment for its customers. Customers experienced key features such as ‘Try me tables’ where they can explore and try products before they purchase, as well as stations with ring lights to create seamless beauty content and interactive zones to discover new and exclusive brands – all supported by in-store associates available to offer friendly advice.
These experiences tie together to showcase how brands are driving innovation through omnichannel strategies, making shopping more engaging, convenient and customer-focused than before.
Looking ahead
With consumer expectations rapidly evolving, it’s important to implement innovative solutions to stay ahead of the curve. At Teamwork Commerce, we believe deploying smart retail technology solutions significantly enhances operational efficiency, elevates customer experiences and drives sales. We’re looking forward to seeing how the rest of the summer unfolds and how retailers grow throughout the summer season.
To explore how Teamwork Commerce’s retail solutions can enhance operations today, get in touch here.
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Expert Retail Insights: David Mauerer – Simplify, Streamline, Succeed
Expert Retail Insights: David Mauerer – Simplify, Streamline, Succeed
As the retail environment becomes more complex, being able to simplify operations is increasingly becoming more important – not only for business efficiency, but also for a seamless customer experience. In today’s competitive landscape, where margins are razor-thin and customer demands continue to evolve, brands must use technology not just to innovate, but also to simplify operations.
In this blog, our Sales Manager, David Mauerer, provides insights into the topic. From the ongoing trends to cutting-edge technologies, Mauerer touches on different aspects of today’s retail environment.
“The biggest opportunity for retailers today isn’t just to innovate — it’s to simplify,” says Mauerer. “Whether it’s making stock counts more efficient with RFID or creating smoother checkout experiences, simplicity is the foundation for efficiency and great customer experiences.” Mauerer’s call for simplification couldn’t be more timely. Mauerer believes: “Brands that make things easier for customers and staff alike are the ones that would thrive in the long-term.”
RFID: The Sleeping Giant of Retail Tech
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) isn’t new, but it’s finally getting the attention it deserves. Retailers who are yet to explore its full potential are now asking: How do we make RFID work for us?
Mauerer says: “Many retailers are just beginning to explore RFID, and for most, it’s still seen as innovative and underutilized. There’s a growing curiosity around its potential, and we’re only scratching the surface. We’re finally seeing retailers treat it as a strategic enabler – not just a nice-to-have.”
Retailers are waking up to RFID’s potential to transform operations at scale. Mauerer explains: “Retailers cannot afford to be out of stock on high-demand items or have their staff wasting time manually counting what’s already on the floor. RFID takes that guesswork out. It gives real-time accuracy, streamlines cycle counts, and makes omnichannel fulfillment possible.”
Yet many retailers are still in the early stages of adoption. However, this seems to be changing. Mauerer says: “There has been a significant focus on RFID in 2025 so far – how to integrate it more easily, how to tag merchandise efficiently, and most importantly, how to unlock its full value across everything from self-checkout to real-time inventory management.”
Mauerer also emphasizes that RFID is becoming a launchpad for more advanced capabilities: “When paired with technologies like AI, RFID becomes a data powerhouse. It provides accurate, real-time insights into systems that can enable brands to predict demand, optimize labor costs, and reduce shrink.”
AI-Driven Automation: Smarter Stores, Not Staffless Stores
“There’s a misconception that AI is about removing people. That couldn’t be further from the truth,” says Mauerer. “AI is about removing tasks – the repetitive, manual, error-prone stuff that takes time away from meaningful customer service.”
“One of the biggest trends we’re seeing is the push to streamline retail operations using AI, machine learning, and automation. Retailers are leveraging these technologies to take over routine tasks and drive efficiency in ways that weren’t possible before,” says Mauerer.
He points to key retail functions being reshaped by automation: “Backroom stock replenishment, demand forecasting, planogram compliance – these are the main areas where AI is making significant strides. AI algorithms learn from patterns, adapt faster than a spreadsheet, and provide teams the tools to make better decisions, quicker.”
Meanwhile, Mauerer also draws a line between automation and dehumanization: “This isn’t about removing the human touch – It’s about giving people more room to do what humans do best – listen, solve problems, tailor interactions, and build trust. If AI can tell an associate that aisle three is low on size medium shirts, that associate can spend their time helping a customer, instead of scanning racks.”
The aim should not be to build an ecosystem of robots, but a well-orchestrated mix of tech and talent, where humans are empowered by machines to serve better, faster, and more intuitively. For retailers after AI trends, Mauerer suggests: “Don’t implement AI because it’s cool. Implement it based on an identified pain point that technology can actually solve. Otherwise, retailers can end up with digital clutter and frustrated teams.”
Retailers Should Act Now
Ultimately, technology should minimize complexity and not increase it. The question is: What should forward-looking retailers do now? “Retailers waiting for the ‘perfect’ moment to innovate are already behind,” warns Mauerer. “Start now. Start small, if you have to – a pilot program, a single category, one store. But start.”
For those eager to embrace AI, Mauerer encourages a thoughtful, problem-first approach: “Before investing in tech, retailers should define the problem they’re trying to solve. Is it inventory accuracy? Long lines at checkout? Low associate productivity? Pinpoint that issue, and then look for a solution that simplifies it.”
“Deploying tech isn’t enough if staff are not equipped with the right knowledge to use it,” says Mauerer while highlighting the importance of human upskilling. “Retailers must show their staff how the tech makes their job easier, not harder.” This can help to improve both employees’ trust in technology and their willingness to use it for the good.
“Technology is only powerful when it makes things easier,” Mauerer concludes. “Simplify, streamline, and then scale.” Retailers who begin to take meaningful steps now will better be able to solidify their position ahead of the busy shopping season ahead in the year.
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Driving Retail Customer Experiences Through Collaboration and Partnership
Driving Retail Customer Experiences Through Collaboration and Partnership
Delivering top-tier customer experiences is one of the main priorities for retailers today. However, delivering exceptional customer experiences isn’t just about going the extra mile – it’s also about creating meaningful strategies, designing personalized discounts and utilizing technology to elevate shopping experiences. All this doesn’t happen in isolation, retailers need to collaborate with leading industry experts for specific areas. The power of collaboration is unmatched.
Collaboration between retailers, technology vendors, logistics companies, and data platforms has become a critical lever for unlocking seamless, personalized customer experiences at scale. By partnering with experienced tech vendors, retailers can significantly bolster their capabilities, enabling them to better cater to the evolving customer expectations. As the industry continues to evolve, partnerships will define not just how retailers operate – but also how shoppers engage, transact, and remain loyal.
In this blog, we explore how enabling partnerships is beneficial to retailers as they provide new resources and expertise that brands may not initially have access to, allowing them to grow and deliver seamless experiences to their customers.
The Benefits of Retail Collaborations
The benefits of collaboration and partnerships go beyond operational efficiency. Each touchpoint of the customer journey can be enhanced through effective collaboration, from improved inventory visibility and point-of-sale (POS) flexibility to bespoke personalization strategies.
- Operational Benefits – Operations become simplified through deploying technology solutions. Retailers can experience improved visibility over inventory management, with stock updating in real-time. This means that not only do customers leave satisfied with what they are looking for, but operational costs and the risk of stock outs are reduced. Teamwork Commerce’s RFID stock counter app, in partnership with Bluebird, allows retailers to streamline their stock count procedure and have a more accurate view over inventory. Similarly, Teamwork Commerce’s Mobile Point-of-Sale (POS) allows retailers to provide customers with a seamless shopping experience. The application provides staff with real-time information at their fingertips while allowing them to complete checkout transactions from any part of a store – significantly boosting user experience for staff as well as convenience for shoppers.
- Elevated Customer Experience – Ultimately, operations powered by effective collaborations will enhance the overall customer experience. Self-checkout implementations streamline the transactional process proving more convenient for customers. Implementing solutions such as RFID Powered Self-Checkout allows customers to complete transactions at their own convenience, significantly reducing wait times and streamlining the final touchpoint of a customer’s retail experience. RFID Powered Self-Checkout instantly scan items once they are placed at the terminal, taking away any hassle associated with the checkout process. This also allows more transactions to be completed during operational hours – increasing profit for retailers. Facilitating these innovative solutions both online and in-store, tailoring products to targeted individuals, boosts customer omnichannel experience making them more likely to become a loyal customer.
At the same time, integrating a secure customer relationship management platform (CRM) facilitates meaningful customer relationships. Having all customer information in one location enables retailers to develop everyone’s experiences based on all the data stored. This means customers can easily be segmented and targeted for sales and ultimately shoppers receive a more personalized and bespoke experience through customer centric approach.
- Improved Decision Making – Collaborating with partners that provide effective data and analytics insights enables retailers to make more informed decisions based on real data. These meaningful insights ensure that effective decisions can be carried out for the business’ long-term success. The data will update in real-time and will provide retailers with a complete view of performance and KPIs for reporting, ensuring that retailers are always ahead of customers’ needs and remain in line with competitors.
4 Things to Consider When Collaborating with a Technology Vendor
- How the vendor has performed in the past: When selecting the right partner, it’s important to be aware of what the vendor can provide, who they have worked with before and how their solutions can be tailored to individual brand needs. This will ensure that retailers save both time and money when investing in the correct partner and can guarantee success
- A unified relationship: When collaborating with a partner, there needs to be teamwork and that unified feeling, not just a transactional process. Partners should feel as if their needs are being catered to, and that they are receiving extra value at every opportunity
- Continuous improvement: Trends, wants and needs for customers are constantly evolving. To keep up with the growing consumer demand, it’s important that vendors facilitate these changes and work to continually improve their solutions for the better
- Return on investment (ROI): Ultimately, what defines the success of any business partnership is the return on investment. If the partner isn’t meeting the ROI requirement, it’s worth re-evaluating
Looking Ahead…
Retail doesn’t stop evolving, and neither do we. At Teamwork Commerce we strive to empower retailers with tailored innovative technology solutions, catered to their growth and success. We value each brand that chooses to partner with us, considering their individual goals and needs when implementing the solutions that work best for them.
To find our more information about partnering with Teamwork Commerce and deploying our innovative solutions, get in touch today.
Related Posts
How is Technology Reviving Apparel Brands?
Retail technology is fuelling brand growth and enhancing the appetite for success. The latest innovative solutions are enabling brands to optimize retail operations, improve customer experiences and streamline time-consuming processes. Implementing effective retail...
Warehouse to Checkout: Optimizing Retail Inventory with Integrated Technology
Today, inventory optimization is no longer just about keeping shelves stocked – it's also about syncing supply and demand across every touchpoint. Traditional inventory systems often operate in silos, resulting in gaps and reduced efficiency. As consumer expectations...
How Can AI Take the Burden Off Retail Staff?
Behind every seamless retail transaction is a team of staff working hard to make it happen. As customer expectations grow and staff shortages continue to be a persistent problem, retailers must find a sustainable solution that allows brands to meet consumer demands...
Sign up for the newsletter
Cooling Down Returns: 3 Ways Retailers Can Streamline Their Reverse Supply Chain This Summer
Cooling Down Returns: 3 Ways Retailers Can Streamline Their Reverse Supply Chain This Summer
The returns dilemma doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. According to Capital One, consumers returned $362 billion in merchandise from online sales and $324 billion from in-store sales during 2024. This equates to 24.5% of eCommerce sales and 8.71% of brick-and-mortar purchases.
As we progress toward the summer months, returns are only expected to become more of a challenge to brands. Vacations and refreshed summer wardrobes present a prime opportunity for fashion retailers to boost sales; they also bring a heightened risk of product returns.
There are several reasons why customers return products. One popular factor lies in bracketing, where consumers buy multiple items with the intention of only keeping one. Other frequent causes include buyer’s remorse, dissatisfaction with product fit or quality, and receiving damaged goods directly from the retailer.
Ultimately, returns will never completely disappear. However, in our latest blog, we explore three ways in which retailers can begin to mitigate the damage done by returns to their bottom line…
Reducing Return Fraud Through RFID
Before even considering the challenges of managing returns themselves, retailers must consider the negative impact that return fraud can have. According to Appriss Retail and Deloitte, fraudulent returns and claims resulted in a $103 billion loss for retailers in 2024. Beyond the immediate financial loss, such fraud undermines customer trust, inflates operational costs, and can distort inventory and sales data, leading to poor business decisions. As a result, retailers may have to implement stricter return policies, which can negatively affect the overall customer experience and loyalty.
Item-level RFID enables retailers to track their entire inventory at item-level, with complete accuracy, in real-time. RFID allows brands to create effective supply chain and retail operations, streamlining manufacturing, transport and storage costs. It also enables brands to efficiently maintain shop floor stock levels. However, its value doesn’t end once products are purchased.
When customers return RFID-tagged items, in-store associates simply need to scan the product and they are provided with full product and transaction details. From here they can verify the original purchase and trigger the return.
In a world where returns fraud is on the rise, RFID is already playing a prominent role in effectively tracking and distinguishing return fraud attempts.
Managing the Reverse Supply Chain
Once a return is verified and processed, RFID tracking can allow retailers to clearly see products move through the reverse supply chain. This process can be made much more efficient through order management software.
Fragmented returns cause more issues for retailers than many might realise. The longer products spend in the reverse supply chain, the longer it takes to get them back to the sales floor. The longer it takes to get back to the sales floor, the lower their resale value. If this process takes too long, products cannot be resold at all.
However, with clear visibility of the reverse supply chain, and with the right order management software controlling the process, retailers can streamline the entire process. They can increase their returns management practices and ensure that items make their way back to the supply chain as quickly as possible. This allows brands to maximize the resale value of returned products, reducing losses.
Teamwork Commerce’s Returns Manager creates this efficiency while maintaining a high-quality customer experience.
It allows retailers to quickly and efficiently process returns and automatically refund consumers regardless of the original sales channel. Pre-approved return codes included with shipping documents allow customers to easily return or exchange items with minimal effort.
Taking Steps to Stop Returns at the Source
While returns will always exist, that doesn’t mean they can’t be reduced. Retailers can take steps to increase the likelihood of customers keeping their products by meeting their product expectations right away.
One way retailers can achieve this is through personalization.
By helping store visitors source the perfect products on their first attempt, retailers can begin to reduce the frequency of the need for customers to return items. Equipped with a Secure Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform, retailers can leverage secure data to better understand their customers on an individual level.
They can easily see purchasing preferences through transaction history, and make recommendations based on reliable information. Whether through sizing, colour or style, retailers can help customers find the right product, quickly. This reduces the need to exchange items or even bracket their purchases.
Overall, customers receive a better experience, and retailers can minimize the damage of returns.
Small Steps Make a Big Difference
Retailers can mitigate returns this summer in a variety of ways. Each solution has its own individual benefits, but when combined, brands can significantly reduce the impact of returns and improve their bottom line.
Interested in seeing how Teamwork Commerce can help your retail brand reduce the negative impact of returns on your retail business? Get in touch today.
Related Posts
How is Technology Reviving Apparel Brands?
Retail technology is fuelling brand growth and enhancing the appetite for success. The latest innovative solutions are enabling brands to optimize retail operations, improve customer experiences and streamline time-consuming processes. Implementing effective retail...
Warehouse to Checkout: Optimizing Retail Inventory with Integrated Technology
Today, inventory optimization is no longer just about keeping shelves stocked – it's also about syncing supply and demand across every touchpoint. Traditional inventory systems often operate in silos, resulting in gaps and reduced efficiency. As consumer expectations...
How Can AI Take the Burden Off Retail Staff?
Behind every seamless retail transaction is a team of staff working hard to make it happen. As customer expectations grow and staff shortages continue to be a persistent problem, retailers must find a sustainable solution that allows brands to meet consumer demands...
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