In recent years, the European watch market has continued to grow, and both entry-level smart watches and high-end mechanical watches have a stable consumer group. According to a research report released by IMARC Group, the European watch market is expected to reach US$21.25 billion in 2024 and will grow to US$33.5 billion in 2033, with an average annual growth rate of 4.7%. Among them, luxury watches are particularly eye-catching, with a market volume of US$7.3 billion in 2024, and an average annual growth rate of 6.4%. This provides huge opportunities for Chinese sellers to go overseas in Europe.
However, as the watch category continues to sell well on European e-commerce platforms, another problem has become increasingly prominent: the pressure of return processing. As a high-value precision product, watches have higher requirements for quality inspection, repackaging and inventory management after returns. Especially for cross-border sellers, return processing not only involves local logistics, but also involves multiple operational links such as warehousing, manpower, and cost control.
Watches have a high return rate and are difficult to handle
European consumers are more receptive to online shopping returns, especially in countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom, and France. Returns have become a "natural" part of the online shopping process. According to Prime AI research data, the average return rate in Europe is between 22% and 58%. Among them, fashion accessories (including watches) have a higher return rate due to large differences in style preferences and low trial and error costs.
The main reasons for consumer returns are concentrated in the following points:
The actual product does not match the picture, especially the dial color, strap material and detail processing;
The size is not suitable, and the tightness of the wrist is not as expected;
The operation is complicated or the function does not meet expectations, especially smart watches;
Quality problems such as slight scratches, abnormal functions, and damaged packaging.
If these high-frequency, low-loss returns are not handled properly, they will not only cause inventory backlogs, but may also cause platform complaints, customer negative reviews, and even affect the store's DSR score. Especially for sellers whose sales cover multiple European countries, how to achieve efficient local return management, quickly complete quality inspection, and achieve secondary listing or orderly return is the key to determining profit margins and operational health.
Three major challenges of watch returns
First, high quality inspection standards and cautious operation. As a high-value-added product, watches require meticulous and professional judgments on appearance defects and intact functions. Whether the watch mirror is scratched, whether the watch strap is worn, whether the packaging is complete, and whether the time is accurate, all these need to be handled by a dedicated person.
Second, the distribution of returns is scattered and the collection is slow. The European e-commerce market has many countries and languages. Sellers often operate multi-site sales at the same time (such as Amazon UK, DE, FR, IT, ES, etc.). Consumer return processes are not unified, and the flow of packages is scattered, resulting in a longer return cycle.
Third, insufficient local processing capacity and high return costs. Lacking a local return warehouse, sellers often need to centrally return all returns to China for processing, which is not only costly but also prone to processing delays.
U-Speed: Helping sellers achieve an efficient closed loop for watch returns
To help sellers efficiently solve the problem of returns in Europe, U-Speed has set up return warehouses in five core markets including the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, forming a return processing network covering the whole of Europe. Especially in handling high-precision products such as watches, it has rich experience and perfect standards.
Multi-country local warehousing and distribution system, no dead ends for returns
UK return warehouse: an area of 17,000 square meters, with a daily order peak of more than 30,000 pieces, covering the entire territory of England and Scotland, and supporting door-to-door pickup.
France return warehouse (Reims): 3,000 square meters, only 10 minutes away from Reims Airport, with rapid quality inspection response, and return processing is completed in 2 to 5 days.
Spain return warehouse: covers an area of 20,000 square meters, with a daily processing capacity of more than 12,000 pieces, specializing in quality inspection of women's clothing, electronics, accessories and other categories.
Germany and Italy return warehouses: specially designed for the Central and Eastern European and Southern European markets to meet the needs of return collection and management of scattered packages.
Standardized operating procedures, specially designed for watch categories
U-Speed has established special quality inspection and grading standards for watch products:
Appearance inspection (whether there are scratches on the dial, mirror, and strap);
Functional test (time accuracy, button response, etc.);
Packaging integrity assessment (whether it can be resold);
Photographing and archiving + system synchronization result feedback.
The quality inspection cycle can be compressed to 24~48 hours, quickly handling products without obvious problems, realizing local secondary listing, and greatly reducing the logistics cost of returning to the country.
Flexible processing methods to meet the personalized needs of sellers
U-Speed not only supports return receipt, quality inspection, and warehousing, but also provides diversified follow-up services according to the product status and seller requirements:
Sellable goods are directly transferred to the platform for secondary listing;
Defective goods can be destroyed or stored in the residual value resale area;
High-value categories support one-click return to China, and logistics solutions can be customized;
Multilingual customer service supports barrier-free cross-border communication.
Real-time system docking, full-process visualization of operations
U-Speed independently developed a return management system that supports docking with mainstream platform systems such as Amazon, eBay, and TikTok Shop. Order synchronization, return status tracking, quality inspection record upload, inventory changes, and other operations are all completed in one background, greatly improving operational efficiency and controllability.
With the continuous improvement of the European market's requirements for cross-border e-commerce services, especially in the return scenario of high-value, non-standard products (such as watches), sellers need not only a "warehouse", but also a capable, experienced, and tool-rich partner.
Relying on the local European warehouse network, professional quality inspection capabilities and intelligent system support, U-Speed has created an effective "return closed loop" for watch sellers. Returns are inevitable, but if handled properly, losses can be turned into added value, and the rhythm can be controlled in your own hands. Behind the hot sales of European watches, only a stable backend can allow the brand to go further.
