TechWag

While no one is ever going to be 100% on top of stuff, what is sad is a report from CES that gadgets are getting so complicated that customers are returning them some 14% on average or or roughly 7% of all sales in gadgets will end up being a return because the customer could not figure out how to run the thing.

Sure, all these gadgets are cool, but do they work? If past history is any indication, often, they often won’t. Here’s that dirty little secret, unearthed by the group of consultants from Accenture: Product returns cost the tech industry $14 billion each year, a huge chunk for a $200 billion business. The Accenture group will be releasing a study on gadget product returns later this week, but I got an early peek. Their main finding is this: Consumers often can’t figure out how to use many of the gadgets they buy, and a sizable portion of those gadgets end up right back at the store. Source :Red Tape

While it is easy to make jokes at this point, the reality is that consumers, the retail chain, and product makers all have to deal with the issue. From the consumer side, if Billy the Geek kid down the street can’t help out, then it is a product return. Odds are most likely that the customer will either not buy that brand of device, or just forgo the purchase all together in the future. No one likes to think they got burned twice, and no one wants to throw good money after bad.

The retail chain looses, profit margins are thin, the return, repackage, and resale as used can cost a lot of profit.

The gadget makers have to deal with the PR and sales issues, in the world of web 2.0, unhappy customers are going to blame the device maker by company name all over the Internet depending on how ticked off they are. The consumer might even go after the retail chain in a mass attempt to vent their anger over crappy products or crappy service.

While everyone is celebrating the geek gadget bonanza that is CES, the sadder reality is that customers are having a harder time making things work. Few if any use all the features of a product, returns can be as high as 20% in some categories of products, meaning it spells trouble for device makers, retailers and consumers.

Tags: web 2.0, technology, idea, business //