Over half of European online shoppers consider returning an item before they have even purchased it. According to a study by B2C Europe, of the 2,400 people surveyed across Europe, 54% of them think about a site's returns policy before buying, whilst 27% will not buy at all if the returns costs are too high. The study also found that 36% of European online shoppers would be more likely to shop cross-border if there was a “clear and simple” returns policy, whilst 60% believe free returns should be a standard service, with a slightly lower 50% believing that a refund is preferable to store credit. Interestingly, the shopping habits of users in Switzerland and Germany are far more effected by the cost of cross-border returns than other countries, with 40% and 39% of people respectively saying it was a major issue.Â
