industry focus
Sending online delivery fraudsters packing
Innovation is being brought to bear on one of the most delicate areas of the retailer/customer relationship – the question of honesty and malicious versus non-malicious loss in the rapidly expanding digital marketplace.
One of COVID-19’s many lasting legacies has been the acceleration of online transactions as physical stores were forced to shut with many never to re-open their doors.
Along with this massive digital transaction growth came the associated increase in fraudulent activity as a growing number of customers claimed they did not receive their delivery because the goods were lost in transit (GLIT) or that they received only part of the package.
Both incidents could be genuine customer gripes, but could also be false claims from fraudsters who know they will be sent a replacement item or complete package. Either way, the retailer must not only apologise, but also manage the investigation robustly, yet sensitively, so as to retain genuine customers while deterring opportunist chancers and organised criminals.
During the final mile of delivery, businesses can prove that a package was delivered to the front door, but that’s not proof that the order was complete in the first instance.
Recent research shows that the pandemic has changed consumers’ behaviour, with 30 per cent of the public admitting to making false claims of items not being received, with organised gangs industrialising the process with multiple fraudulent refund claims costing retailers tens of thousands of pounds every week. There are even professional refund fraudsters who will make a claim for someone for a fee – legitimising and committing fraud as a ‘service’ for other people.
Working closely with partners AXIS and Morphean, Amberstone has developed PACKED, a new consignment checking system which has already been rolled out for Footasylum. The solution, which combines camera technology at the point of pick and pack with transaction checking capability, not only allows retailers to quickly ascertain whether the customer is telling the truth, but it also improves the experience for those who have suffered a genuine service error.
PACKED stores a video record of every pick, pack and despatch transaction. Then, if the completeness of the delivery is challenged, customer services can key in the customer receipt number to instantly locate and watch the video record of that transaction to understand if the customer is correct or mistaken.
Steve Evans, relationship and innovations director for Amberstone said: “PACKED is a solution that interrogates both malicious and non-malicious claims against online businesses where it is claimed that some of the items in the order have not been despatched
“Every packing station in the DC has a camera and this cloud-based solution enables a retailer who has received a customer complaint to enter an order number and view the CCTV covering the packing area and associated activity related to that specific order.
“The solution, which can be viewed remotely, links video with order number and time along with transaction data in order to tie-up actual footage from a relevant camera at the point of despatch.”
Richard Hodson at Footasylum welcomed the solution and said: “It was about reducing losses, streamlining the investigation and providing our colleagues with a reliable solution to confirm the package content. It allows us to quickly manage any inaccuracies internally and respond quickly, confidently and fairly to any customer concerns, which is great customer service. It also provides an immediate and active deterrent to false claims.”
Moving forward, the system has the potential to be made available for the genuine customer to use themselves so they can key in their receipt number online and watch the video showing them pick.
Dan Hardy, managing director of Amberstone, said: “Imagine being a legitimate customer hearing the words: “I can see a video of your goods being despatched and can confirm that we have made a mistake, which we will put right.”
“Conversely, think of the impact if will have on an opportunist or fraudster when they hear that the item was in fact packed at the point of despatch. This is a powerful capability because, of course, word will spread rapidly around the fraud community that this scam no longer has currency and will be challenged.
“As well as providing video fulfilment confirmation of the final mile, the system also offers similar verification solutions for till line investigations and click and collect enquiries. And the simplification of the returns investigations offers huge savings in man hours as well as the fastest possible resolution of a customer’s query.
“Of course, preventing fraud is just one of the benefits of the system. Less fraud means better stock availability. And that means more sales. With a customer self-serve arrangement there will be fewer calls to customer services. And, most importantly, you can afford to be more generous to the legitimate complainants and invest in providing a service recovery that will truly impress the customer and give them bragging rights to spread across their entire social network.
In challenging times for retail, the new PACKED system is a game changer in the fight against refund fraud. Its package of easily recognised benefits offer significant opportunities for a retail industry in perpetual flux. From Brexit to COVID, the sector has had to rapidly adapt to ever-changing trading conditions and ride the tiger of increased online sales.
