Happy Friday! ‘This week in CX’ brings you the latest roundup of industry news.
This week, we’ve explored the bold, the surprising, and the overdue in customer experience – from Wizz Air’s “pay to stay behind” strategy and the UK’s instant payment lag, to the ten brands nailing CX in 2025 and why your customers just want a text instead of an email.
We’re also discussing new updates from the UK employment tribunal, Jumpmind, and more.
Key news
- Have you been told by coworkers or bosses that your work is untidy or messy? That’s not grounds for a discrimination claim, according to a UK employment tribunal. An HR manager claimed that being told by his boss that his work needed improvement left him feeling “devastated, hurt and profoundly upset”. However, the tribunal panel determined that there “was no unfavourable treatment”. The panel said that managers must be able to point out weaknesses and errors so long as the comments are made with the intention to improve employees’ work.
- Airports in the Middle East have started to reopen after this week’s conflict-related closures, but the outlook for aviation remains challenging. Airlines face rising costs as conflicts force rerouting – also in Ukraine, Myanmar and central Africa. Since 2021, global warfare zones have expanded by 65% to an area nearly twice the size of India. On some Europe-Asia routes, operating costs have surged by up to 39%, with emissions from fuel burn rising 40%. Analysts warn that higher fares are likely to follow. Meanwhile, navigational risks such as GPS spoofing are putting more pressure on pilots.
- European defence stocks surged on Wednesday after a gathering of Nato leaders in the Netherlands yielded an agreement to increase military spending to 5% of each nation’s gross domestic product. UK defence firm Babcock International shares gained more than 10%, while German company Hensoldt stock rose 6%. Nato’s agreement is one of the “most decisive” to emerge from the alliance in years, and is viewed as a significant show of solidarity amid escalating geopolitical tensions. However, some economists warn that Nato’s plan to lift defence spending would starve climate and social programmes of vital funds.
CXM news stories
Here’s the full news stories that CXM have reported on in the past week. Learn all about the latest news in retail, the world of digital payments and customer strategies at low-cost airlines.
Returns Are Flooding Stores, and Shoppers Aren’t Buying Anything Else
As e-commerce continues to redefine convenience, it’s also rewriting the rulebook for returns, and many retailers are finding themselves on the losing side. A new study reveals that while the number of online orders being returned to physical stores is skyrocketing, the infrastructure and expectations to handle them simply aren’t in place. This leads to new costs, new workflows, and very few sales opportunities retailers hoped for.
According to research conducted by Retail Systems Research (RSR) and sponsored by Jumpmind, 43% of retailers say that handling returns from online orders in-store is now one of their top operational headaches. That’s no surprise when you consider that online purchases are returned at three times the rate of in-store ones. Despite this, the majority of retailers still encourage shoppers to bring returns to brick-and-mortar locations, hoping it’ll lead to additional purchases.
“Retailers are not capitalizing on in-store returns in the way they expected,” said Lauren Cevallos, Head of Strategy and Customer Success at Jumpmind. “Instead, the cost and complexity of handling online returns is weighing down retailers’ store efficiency and profitability.”
Perception Gap
While 72% of retail executives believe that in-store returns present an opportunity to drive new sales, only 17% of shoppers actually go on to buy something else after returning an item. Instead, most—43%, in fact—drop off the return and head straight for the exit. For store staff, that means dealing with the burden of returns processing without the payoff of added revenue.
And it’s not just about lost sales—it’s about system strain. More than 1 in 5 retailers admit that their store design can’t handle today’s digital-era customer needs like BOPIS (buy online, pick up in store), curbside pickup, or online returns. 41% say managing omnichannel orders and returns now requires new in-store roles and processes that their teams are scrambling to adapt to.
With the holiday return rush—often dubbed “Returnuary”—just around the corner, retailers are being urged to act fast. The key lies in modernising infrastructure, especially point-of-sale (POS) systems, to make returns not only quicker, but more cost-efficient. Shoppers expect seamless returns, and the retailers who deliver that friction-free experience without overloading staff are the ones who’ll win long-term loyalty.
In a world where ease of return is often a deal-breaker for shoppers, failing to address this returns crunch could mean missing out on future business, not just the one that walked in today.