Imaging SKUs Have More Returns After 16 Days

By Steve Smith -- TWICE, 9/8/2011

REDMOND, WASH. – Consumers consistently return imaging products at a significantly higher rate during the 16 to 30-day period after purchase than any other major category of consumer electronics.

In this exclusive report to TWICE, new analysis from SIRAS, the provider of product registration, return validation and lifecycle tracking services, the high rate persisted in spite of some retailers having shortened their product return periods during the past year. The imaging products analysis includes digital cameras and camcorders.

“The proportion of attempted returns in the 16- to 30- day post-purchase period is about 15 percent higher than the next-closest CE category and about 50 percent higher than the overall average,” said Peter Junger, SIRAS president.

He noted SIRAS’s conclusions were based on a review of nine major consumer electronics product categories covering annual periods ending during 2010 and 2011. Junger stated that SIRAS’s data, based on millions of transactions, covers products sold at participating retailers with return policies varying from a couple of weeks to up to three months.

One possible and potentially distressing explanation for the trend is that customers are buying products with the intention to use them for a specific purpose or event and then return them afterward, but, Junger said there was no data or research to directly support such a conclusion.