Returns Rate Audit

Who it is for

Merchandising, operations, and finance partners at UK retailers, marketplaces, and catalogue businesses who already know returns are expensive — but cannot agree on where the rate climbs or why refunds lag.

Result

You receive a set of annotated visualisation boards covering return reasons, refund timing, and category heat, plus a prioritised action list your teams can debate in one room.

Scope included

• Intake of OMS or returns-desk exports for an agreed window (usually one full trading season)
• Cleaning of reason codes and free-text notes into a shared taxonomy
• Boards for reason mix, refund lag, channel split, and category heat
• One 90-minute findings session (Birmingham studio or scheduled remote)
• A short written caption sheet for each board so the story survives after we leave

Out of scope

• Day-to-day warehouse staffing decisions
• Legal disputes with carriers or payment providers
• Building or hosting ongoing software products

How we work

1. Brief — channels, categories, and the questions your boards must answer
2. Extract — secure file transfer of agreed exports
3. Redraw — draft boards reviewed with your sponsor mid-engagement
4. Present — findings session with printed or large-format digital boards
5. Handoff — files and caption sheets for internal use

Preparation

Nominate one sponsor who can unlock data access and invite buying and CX voices to the findings session. Flag any known data quirks (shared SKUs, marketplace vs own-site refunds) before we start.

Constraints

We need at least eight continuous weeks of returns activity in the extract. Brands with under 200 returns in the window may be better served by a Refund Pattern Brief instead.

Next step

Request a briefing with your channels and season window. We reply within two working days with a proposed timeline and fee band.