I've always covered them from the store side of the, um, equation - basically, the algorithmic efforts to reduce fraudulent returns. I've also covered the customers who are caught up in the algorithm and haven't been allowed to return things that they think they should be able to return.
With the negative press that The Retail Equation has received, I began wondering - has the company tried to make the case that its service is actually GOOD for customers?
It has:
The Retail Equation’s Verify Return Authorization solution offers you a tremendous alternative to strict, across-the-board return policies used by some retailers.
It also covers "Retail Rewards," which appears to be a new name for the Return Rewards I previously discussed.
TRE's Retail Rewards targeted incentives ... help accommodate you for the inconvenience of the returned item and persuade you to keep shopping in their store.
Finally, The Retail Equation states that its service lowers retailer costs "and helps lower prices." While the "consumer benefits" statement doesn't provide justification, this release does make one interesting claim:
The Retail Equation/Sysrepublic has conducted studies to substantiate the fact that return rate and return fraud are closely tied to shrink. These studies indicate that if a retailer takes actions to prevent return fraud and abuse, shrink can be reduced by a significant amount. This suggests that paying close attention to returns is a powerful weapon to combat shrink. As companies look to improve their loss prevention metrics in the coming months, they should consider implementing strategies to reduce return rate and fraud and, ultimately, shrink.
And it's obvious that reducing shrink lowers retailer costs, although in the quarterly public company pressure to profit profit profit, it's uncertain whether that reduction in costs actually lowers prices that customers pay.
