As per National Retail Federation’s Return Fraud Survey, ‘holiday return fraud’ is projected to cost retailers US $ 2.2 billion, up US $ 1.9 billion from last year. The survey also mentions that total annual returns will touch US $ 260.5 billion-mark with US $ 9.1 billion of retailers’ annual returns expected to be falsified.
Most of the retailers surveyed have accepted that they’ve experienced the return of stolen merchandise. ‘Wardrobing’, or the return of used, non-defective merchandise, affects 72.6% of retailers, making it one of the biggest fraud issues the retailers have to deal with.
Also Read – National Retail Federation to address Cybersecurity issue in retail
The association suggests that retailers must consider deploying proven security and loss prevention tools such as RFID tags and IoT connected devices within their stores.
Bob Moraca – Vice President of Loss Prevention at NRF averred, “Retailers have the difficult task of providing superior customer service by always giving the benefit of the doubt to their shoppers when it comes to returns, while simultaneously working to make sure they protect their business assets,” adding, “We expect retailers to continue their tried-and-true ways of combating fraud through increased usage of identification verification, as well as seeking new and innovative approaches on the back end.”
Also Read – National Retail Federation supports efforts on data security
Furthermore, noting the growing use of e-receipts by retailers, the survey mentions that one-third of those polled said they have experienced return fraud with use of e-receipts, up from 18.2 per cent last year.