What came back wasn't the clothes. It was a bag of detergent
Originally written in Chinese. Translated with AI, reviewed by Gary. Read the Chinese original →
A colleague from the warehouse just posted a video in our group chat.
We'd received another return parcel.
The customer had bought a few hundred ringgit worth of clothes, and what came back wasn't the clothes. It was a bag of washing powder.
It sounds funny, but for people in e-commerce it isn't funny at all.
Because once e-commerce reaches maturity, the real test is no longer who can open a shop, run ads or go live. Everyone can do those things now. The second half is about professionalism, and whether your team can hold the line on every single detail.
We've kept at it for years, falling into one pit after another, and in the end you realise that whether it's your partners or your own team, the only way forward is to keep upgrading.
Let me share some numbers.
From last year, our return rate was basically held at around 2% to 3%. This year it has risen to 5%. Even more striking, during Chinese New Year a few months ago, the return rate briefly hit 8%.
Many people might not feel what that means.
But if you do RM1,000,000 in sales a month, 8% in refunds is RM80,000.
That RM80,000 isn't absorbed by the platform, and it isn't absorbed by the customer. It's absorbed by the brand and the seller.
In the end, e-commerce really isn't about feeling great looking at GMV every day. Behind GMV are lots of holes you can't see. If you're not professional, those holes slowly eat your profit.
Especially returns.
When you're shipping hundreds or thousands of orders a day, even a 5% return rate can mean dozens of parcels coming back every day. Each one has to be inspected, photographed, filmed, matched to its order and assessed, and then appealed within the time the platform allows.
If you're a bit slow and miss that window, you eat the loss yourself.
The second half of e-commerce isn't easier. It's more detailed.
Customer service has to be more professional, the warehouse has to be more professional, operations have to be more professional, systems have to be more professional. Down to whether you can quickly find the problem order among thousands of parcels, pull up the recording, find the evidence and act straight away.
These things sound trivial, but this is business.
When the market is good, everyone thinks they're brilliant. When it's not so good, what really saves you are these details, squeezed out bit by bit.
Very often it isn't one big problem that kills you. It's lots of small problems leaking a little every day, until the profit is gone.
This is the age of professionalism. Whoever has the more meticulous team, the stronger processes, and the willingness to get down and solve problems parcel by parcel, order by order, is the one with a chance to survive longer.
E-commerce isn't just selling things.
Further down the road, it's really about training a company's ability to manage.