ATLANTA, Dec. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Innotrac Corporation (NASDAQ: INOC), a best-of-breed commerce provider integrating digital technology, fulfillment, and contact center solutions to support global brands, today announced summary results of its latest SmartHub® eCommerce benchmark analysis, which was based on a sampling of orders placed in August of this year.
SmartHub®, Innotrac's proprietary benchmarking tool, provides clients and strategic partners with intelligence and analysis of the online retail purchase cycle. The current release evaluated over 100 leading merchants across 56 data points, tracking the entire eCommerce experience from ordering, to shipping, packaging, customer service, and returns.
"Returns are inevitable, but it's still not something that retailers like dealing with," said Melissa O'Keefe, Sr. Director of eCommerce and Marketing at Innotrac. "We wanted to take a closer look at how returns impact the online shopping experience and what that means for retailers. While returns are about merchandise coming back, it's also about merchandise going out. This special study provides insight into retailers' return policies which impact whether a consumer will actually make a purchase or even recommend a brand."
The August 2012 SmartHub® benchmarking study reports recent findings with a focus on the returns process. Among the findings:
- The returns process is an opportunity for retailers to increase conversion rates and overall customer satisfaction and loyalty. Despite the fact that at least 62% of consumers admit to reviewing return policies prior to purchasing, over 30% of merchants still fail to provide detailed information about their policy on their website, specifically the window of time allowed for returns.
- Ease of returns ranks high on the list of consumer needs with regards to online ordering. We found that only 25% of merchants include a return label in with the product shipment, while 9% require a call to initiate the return.
- With over 15% of merchants, credit took 16 days or longer to appear after the product had been returned.
- Data from our April, June, and August 2012 order cycles shows a downward trend in the number of merchants who do not offer free shipping of any kind. At the other end of the spectrum, the number of merchants who offer free shipping on all orders is increasing slightly.
The next benchmarking study is schedule to be published in January with the first release of SmartHub® 3.0. This release update includes an additional 125 merchants into the SmartHub® sample, bringing the total merchant pool to 225. New data points have also been added to the process, increasing from 56 to 81 touch points. The 3.0 release ordering cycle coincidentally occurred at the same time Hurricane Sandy hit the Northeast, and will provide additional detail around how retailers perform (and communicate) in the face of a natural disaster.
To download the full 2.3 white paper, visit www.innotrac.com.
About Innotrac
Innotrac Corporation, founded in 1984 and based near Atlanta, Georgia, is a best-of-breed commerce provider integrating digital technology, fulfillment and contact center solutions to support global brands. The Company employs sophisticated order processing and warehouse management technology and operates eight fulfillment centers and one call center spanning all time zones across the continental United States. Innotrac Europe GmbH has a network of fulfillment centers, call centers, and returns processing facilities with operations in the UK, Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Ireland, Spain and the Netherlands. Connect with Innotrac at www.innotrac.com or http://www.linkedin.com/company/innotrac.
Information contained in this press release, other than historical information, may be considered forward-looking in nature. Forward-looking statements are subject to various risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, estimated or expected. Among the key factors that may have a direct bearing on Innotrac's operating results, performance or financial condition are competition, the demand for Innotrac's services, Innotrac's ability to retain its current clients, Innotrac's success in growing its existing client base, developing new business, Innotrac's ability to maintain or improve gross margins in the face of increasing revenues, reducing operating costs in response to reduced service revenues, realization of expected revenues from new clients, the general state of the industries that the Company serves, changing technologies, Innotrac's ability to maintain profit margins in the face of pricing pressures and numerous other factors discussed in Innotrac's 2011 Annual Report on Form 10-K and other filings on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Innotrac disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Media Contact:
Yolanda Kokayi
Innotrac Marketing Manager
678-584-4096
[email protected]
SOURCE Innotrac Corporation
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