Increasing the speed of refunds could lead to 58 percent of shoppers spending more* and 56 percent shopping more frequently, according to Trustly’s new ecommerce report ‘Rethink your refunds, perfect your payments: How to unlock customer loyalty in eCommerce’. This finding suggests a spending uplift from over half of an e-tailers existing customer base.

With more people shopping online than ever before, businesses are feeling the strain of quick returns and refunds. 69 percent of consumers in Europe stated that they waited four days or more to receive their last refund. By reshaping the refund process, businesses can attract more loyal and satisfied customers. 65 percent of consumers claimed the speed and ease of refund affects where they choose to shop, while 95 percent said same-day refunds would make them more loyal to a merchant. 

In addition,73 percent of consumers stated that they are open to new payment methods if it means they can have access to fast refunds. Together these findings help to quantify the business opportunity, one of which would be introducing direct online bank payments, at their checkouts, allowing their customers to reap the rewards. 

Ciaran O’Malley, Head of Commercial Strategy at Trustly said: “Shoppers have now come to expect seamless returns. However, while free returns are now commonplace for most e-tailers, refunds have not kept pace. Timely processing of refunds is a core factor affecting the shopper’s experience and many companies overlook this, assuming the offer of free returns is good enough. 

This is the time for businesses to introduce payment options offering same-day refunds and go beyond the ‘free returns’ offering. Trustly's unique refund functionality provides a simple and effective means to deliver this. Furthermore, as customers are becoming more open to new innovative payment methods we expect to see strong customer uptake”

Market dynamics and consumer sentiment identifies bank payments as a crucial element in improving the e-commerce experience. They are already one of the fastest-growing payment methods in Europe, and the introduction of PSD2 (and Open Banking in the UK) has meant that consumers can benefit from safe and secure bank payments thanks to a higher regulated sector. 

The report also looks at the following: 

• The influence that payment choice has on spending decisions
• The favoured payment option when shopping online
• What payment methods are desired when shopping online
• How consumers know and have memorized their bank login details over their card details, and what this means for shopping habits

Methodology: Trustly surveyed 1,700 active consumers over the period of June-July 2018. The survey covered consumers from nine EU countries including Estonia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. 

*Respondents were asked would you spend more online if you received refunds faster than today.