A number of retailers have made their return policies stricter. “Retailers examine and reevaluate their policies all the time,” says Scott Krugman, a spokesman for the National Retail Federation, a trade group. “They balance the needs of the customers and also consider whether the policy is being abused [by consumers].” Wal-Mart, for example, toughened its policy several years ago and implemented a return-tracking system that signals cashiers when customers have returned more than three items without receipts within 45 days. Managers at the retailing behemoth’s stores must approve returns signaled by the system.

After analyzing the policies of its competitors, Sears changed its return policy in late 2005 by tacking on a 15 percent restocking fee for some appliances, tools, and lawn and garden products that don’t contain all the original packaging and can’t be resold as new.

Costco, the warehouse-club giant, takes a more liberal approach to returns. The retailer claims that, with few exceptions, shoppers can return items at any time. The company even refunds shipping fees for items purchased online. Still other retailers, including Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Target, either do not require receipts or they use systems that trace purchases made with checks or credit and debit cards.

HOW TO AVOID RETURN HASSLES

Check the return policy. You’ll typically find the return policy for each retailer on signs near the checkout registers, on receipts, and on its Web site. Note the number of days you have to return items, policy exceptions, and whether restocking fees apply. If you buy and return items online, be aware that many merchants do not refund the cost of shipping, and you’ll probably have to pay the return postage. To avoid the inconvenience and cost of returning by mail, see if you can return your online purchases to a walk-in store. The chart below details this type of information.

Save the receipt. Not all retailers allow you to make returns without receipts. In some cases you’ll receive store credit, which could be based on a selling price lower than what you paid. To facilitate returns, hang onto receipts until warranties expire or for seven years if you need receipts to support tax returns.

Open with care. You might not be able to return some items, such as electronics, if you’ve opened the box and the products are not defective or if they’re not in their original packaging with all of the paperwork.

“But Juniper believes that mobile campaigns must be tightly linked to print, online and store based campaigns to ensure consistency of customer experience.

Increasingly people will browse on one device such as a PC and then buy from another such as a smartphone,” he added.

The report found that there was an increasing awareness in the industry of the need to enable an integrated shopping experience within the wider context of a fast expanding e-commerce market.

Other key findings from the research are that the market will gain further momentum in the medium term following the increasing deployment of POS (point of sale) solutions to facilitate in-store [NFC-style] cashless transactions.

It also identified a major industry benefit – namely that retailers have discovered a marked uplift in average transaction value when cash is replaced by a mobile payment method.

In the report there are of some 17 mobile payments vendors and offers guidance for readers to pinpoint their strategies.