E-commerce firms seek to curb return rate to cut losses

E-commerce firms in the B2C segment are looking for ways to curb the high rate of order returns by consumers of general merchandise and lifestyle products bought on their platforms to narrow their losses.

Unless the high return rate – almost 15-16% – is checked, analysts reckon that most such firms may find difficult to post profits. The economics make this clear. The average order size is around Rs 200-300. Of this nearly 14-15% goes into logistics costs. Add to this, discounts on products which could range between 20-30%.