40% of consumers say they returned products due to incorrect information
Mistakes in sizing, misleading images and other errors have prompted more than a third of consumers to return products in the past year, and 53 per cent say they’ve abandoned an online purchase because product data wasn’t correct, according to research published by Akeneo.
Based in Boston, where it supplies product information management (PIM) technology, Akeneo surveyed 1,800 consumers aged 18 and above across eight different countries to produce its annual report, titled Akeneo B2C Survey: The Evolution of the Modern Shopper.
Overall, Akeneo found the proportion of consumers who are dissatisfied with the comprehensiveness of product data more than doubled since its 2023 report, rising from 13 per cent to 30 per cent. The top area consumers cited was vendors’ supply chain practices at 30 per cent, though allergen/nutritional information was close behind at 27 per cent.
On the flip side, the report found consumers are willing to pay 25-30 per cent more for products with clear, complete and relevant information. This could stem in part from the sting they’re feeling from having to pay for returns. Sixty-seven per cent said they feel disappointed, frustrated and unfairly treated by return fees.
Retailers not only have to have the right product information on their own site but across multiple channels. As it stands, 28 per cent said the information on retail sites is usually very or fairly bad, not much better than the 30 per cent who said the same thing about online product comparison sites. Among mobile shoppers, meanwhile, 21 per cent said they were dissatisified with the product information they find on apps.
“Ensuring that your product data, everything from product titles and descriptions, to pricing, specs, visuals, and even stock availability is accurate and consistent across all channels is foundational,” the report’s authors wrote.
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While Akeneo’s report is obviously intended to make the business case for its PIM platform, the research shows how data quality affects not only discovery and consideration but the post-purchase phase of the customer journey.
Retailers might respond, with some justification, that consumers sometimes overlook key pieces of information, or don’t take the time to read it carefully in the first place. A good customer experience is not only about having accurate and up to date product information, but presenting the data in a way that’s easy to scan and consume at a glance.
As AI becomes a bigger part of shopping experiences, it will be interesting to see whether chat tools will help retailers convey the right information to consumers, and whether we’ll see returns go down as a result.
Whoever’s ultimately at fault, any disconnect between what consumers think they’re buying and what they unbox has a direct impact on a brand’s trust and credibility.
Akeneo’s gated 18-page report has some additional findings that may be of interest to retail CX leaders, including data about in-person vs. online shopping, the impact of influencers vs. peer recommendations and more.
