Different strategies to reduce returns for an eyewear business on Shopify
As technologies increase and various industries are using advanced technologies to provide their customers with an engaging yet immersive shopping experience, the eyewear industry faces several challenges in merchandising its products virtually, resulting in an increase in the likelihood of product returns. Some challenges that eyewear brands face during their online sales are try-on limitations, lack of personalization, quality concerns, and inventory management, which result in a higher number of product returns due to fit uncertainty and consumer behavior.
However, implementing and practicing appropriate strategies, such as virtual try-ons, 3D configurators, 360-degree viewers, and more, will help the eyewear industry to reduce its return rates, as it will help the brand to provide its customers with a satisfying and more trusted shopping experience. Since eyewear products work as an important fashion accessory for today’s people, using advanced technologies will help the eyewear industry grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.3% from 2024 to 2030 globally.
To reach this value and grow at the desired rate, the eyewear industry has to reduce its product return rates by opting for effective strategies and integrating advanced tools so that it can foster customer trust and build stronger relationships with its customers. In this blog, I will provide you with detailed information on different strategies that an eyewear brand can opt for to minimize returns and improve online sales and conversions effectively.
{{component="/internal/widgets"}}
Reasons why eyewear brands are experiencing higher returns
Whenever it comes to understanding the reasons behind the increasing returns for an eyewear brand, businesses have to look at a lot of reasons, such as poor fit and comfort, quality issues, misleading representations, and higher customer expectations. These are some of the reasons or challenges that an eyewear brand experiences, which can result in decreased sales and conversion rates for the business as it fails to foster customer trust and loyalty towards the brand or product.
In this section, I will provide you with detailed information on various reasons and challenges that a Shopify-based e-commerce brand experiences while offering its customers an enhanced and immersive shopping experience.
1. Poor fit and comfort
- Lack of physical try-on: During virtual shopping, users encounter a lack of physical touch and feel, which sometimes causes the inability to try on frames before purchasing, due to which they fail to select the best suitable glasses or frames according to their fit and comfort, leading to issues with size, weight, and comfort.
- Facial dimensions: During online shopping for glasses or frames, users find it difficult to determine if a frame suits their face shape, structure, and features, which can be another reason for online brands to experience a lot of product returns due to fit and comfort issues.
- Inaccurate measurements: Another challenge that an eyewear brand faces is due to inaccurate measurements like pupillary distance (PD) and fitting height, which are often incorrectly measured or omitted by customers during virtual try-ons or online shopping.
2. Inaccurate prescriptions and quality issues
- Incorrect power: Sometimes, eyewear brands experience a higher number of product returns as customers fail to provide the accurate power of their vision during the checkout process, resulting in them having to return their glasses or frames because they experience blurry vision.
- Optical center errors: Due to inaccurate optical centration or improper fitting of progressive lenses (PALs), sometimes brands fail to make accurate glasses or make them unusable, which fails the glasses in at least one parameter of optical or impact testing, resulting in higher product returns.
- Manufacturing defects: Due to manufacturing defects and issues, brands also experience a rise in product returns, as they get glasses with micro-cracks in the lens coating or improper assembly, for which they have to opt for the option of immediate returns.
3. Misleading online representations
- Color or style mismatch: During online eyewear shopping, customers face buyer’s remorse or experience uncertainty about color or style mismatch, due to which online brands and sellers receive a higher number of requests for product returns, as they differ in color or style from what was displayed on the screen.
- Virtual try-on limitations: To improve the customer experience and engagement, eyewear brands and businesses integrate the virtual try-on tool, due to which sometimes users fail to visualize the product, or it may not perfectly represent how a frame will feel or fit in real life, resulting in a higher number of product returns.
4. High customer expectations
- Lower tolerance for errors: Sometimes, customers set a higher bar during online eyewear shopping, due to which they expect the same quality online as they get in-store, which results in a higher number of product returns, as they are likely to abandon a brand after one bad experience that will increase the pressure on the brand to provide their customers with instant and perfect fulfillment.
- Complexity of lens types: Most of the time, brands fail to deliver the appropriate lens types to their customers due to the complexity of progressive lenses, which makes it harder for their customers to get the right glasses online, due to which the eyewear brand or sellers experience higher return rates for various glasses and frames.
Different strategies that eyewear brands can opt for to reduce their return rates
When it comes to reducing the product return rate for an online brand, businesses have to look at various strategies that they can use to provide their customers with a satisfying shopping experience while fostering their trust in the product. Apart from that, using these marketing strategies will also help the brand to improve its relationships with its customers while offering them an engaging and immersive experience during online shopping.
In this section, I will provide detailed information on various strategies that eyewear brands and businesses can use on their e-commerce websites or apps, which will help them reduce their product return rates while fostering customer loyalty and trust.
1. Advanced virtual try-on technology
- AR-powered fitting: It uses advanced augmented reality and facial mapping technologies to provide users with the ability to explore and try different eyewear products during virtual shopping, which will help them select the most suitable frames according to their face shape and structure.
- AI-powered recommendations: It helps eyewear brands to provide their customers with a personalized shopping experience by using advanced AI-based algorithms to analyze their face shape, size, and past purchase behavior to recommend the best-fitting frames according to their needs and preferences.
- 3D face scanning: To provide users with a realistic and lifelike shopping experience, the virtual try-on tool uses 3D face scanning technology that creates a 3D scan for a highly accurate "virtual fitting room" experience, which they can use to understand the placement of the product on their face, along with the movement of their head during try-on.
2. Comprehensive product data and visuals
- Detailed frame measurements: By providing their customers with frame measurements, eyewear brands can reduce their product returns by helping their customers to understand the measurements for lens width, bridge width, and temple length in millimeters, which will also help them to select the frame according to their face structure.
- High-quality visuals: By using engaging and interactive visuals, such as 360-degree views, close-up shots of hinges and materials, and video demonstrations of the frames, brands can keep their customers engaged on the website or app while reducing their uncertainty about style and color mismatch.
- Contextual imagery: Brands can also provide their customers with the facility to try frames on models with different face shapes and skin tones, which will help them to visualize the product in different real-life scenarios and help them to understand how the frame will look in the real-world environment.
3. Introducing “try-before-you-buy” models
- Home try-on kits: Brands can also provide their customers with the ability to try different frames and glasses at home, which will help them understand how the product will look on their face shape and structure while helping them make more informed and confident purchasing decisions.
- Influencer or UGC showcases: Brands can also opt for influencer marketing or user-generated content, which will help users understand how the frame will look on real customers, which will help prospective buyers make more confident and informed decisions.
4. Enhanced customer support and education
- Live expert chat: Brands can provide their customers with access to opticians or stylists through live chat, which will help them to answer their queries or questions about frame fit, lens options, or prescription suitability, so that they can have a satisfying shopping experience during online shopping.
- Pre-sale consultations: Eyewear brands can also provide their customers with pre-sale virtual consultations, which will provide them with prescription advice to reduce the uncertainty of incorrect prescriptions, a major cause of increasing product returns.
- Post-purchase guides: Brands can also opt for a post-purchase personalization strategy in which they can send their customers tailored emails along with advice on how to adjust frames or care for lenses upon delivery to prevent misuse, which will also help the brand to build a stronger connection with them.
5. Smart return policies and logistics
- Promote exchanges over refunds: Brands can provide their customers with the option of exchanging products instead of returning them to the store, which can be done by providing them with self-service return portals in which they can opt for exchanging options for a better frame or choosing store credit instead of a return or full refund.
- Incentivized keep: Brands can also provide their customers with an additional small discount or loyalty points if their customer chooses to keep the product instead of returning it, which will also help the brand to reduce its product return rates.
- Extended return window: Brands can also increase their return window, such as to 60 or 90 days, which can increase the "endowment effect," where customers become more attached or familiar with the product and are less likely to return it.
6. Data-driven analysis and insights
- Analyze return reasons: Before accepting the return requests, brands must review the specific reasons for returns, such as being too tight or the wrong color, which will help them to identify and correct patterns in inventory or website descriptions while offering their customers better services and reducing product returns.
- Identify "repeated returners": Brands can also use the analytics to understand and analyze customers who abuse the return policy and take action, such as limiting their return options or charging restocking fees, which will help them improve their connections with their customers.
Introducing GlamAR’s SDK for eyewear brands and businesses
GlamAR is an AR- and AI-based solution provider that provides several businesses with several solutions, including virtual try-ons, 3D configurators, 360-degree viewers, and more, which can help them to increase their sales and reduce product returns. It also helps online sellers and businesses to provide their customers with an engaging and immersive shopping experience by enabling them to explore and try various products using AR overlays and 3D models on the e-commerce platform without having to download additional applications.
By using the virtual eyewear try-on, eyewear brands and businesses can provide their customers with the feature to explore and try multiple eyeglasses and frames virtually through the advanced, sophisticated technology of 3D modeling and AR overlay. It also helps businesses to provide their customers with an in-store-like experience during online shopping by enabling them to customize glasses according to their choice and offering them an immersive experience.
It also provides users with a virtual store feature, enabling them to explore multiple products with real-time face detection. It also helps brands increase their overall sales and conversion rates by providing them with unmatched realism and accuracy to fill the gap between online and offline shopping experiences. It also helps businesses to reduce the product return rate by helping customers to make more informed and confident purchases in order to find the right pair of glasses.
Along with that, it also helps businesses to provide customers with a similar, engaging, and immersive shopping experience on different platforms by enabling them to seamlessly integrate the tool into Android, iOS, and web browsers. Therefore, using the virtual try-on SDK for eyewear products will help online businesses and brands to reduce their product returns while reducing customers’ uncertainty about color and style mismatch.
Benefits of using GlamAR’s SDK for eyewear brands
By using GlamAR's virtual eyewear try-on, eyewear brands can increase their overall sales and conversion rates by providing their customers with an improved experience and engaging features. It also helps businesses to reduce product return rates by helping their customers to make more informed and confident decisions while reducing their uncertainty about color and style mismatch.
In addition to that, it also provides brands with multiple benefits that help them build stronger relationships with their customers and provide them with better services while enabling them to improve product display on the website with the help of virtual try-ons, 360-degree viewers, and 3D configurators. In this section, I will provide you with detailed information on the benefits of using GlamAR’s virtual eyewear try-on that an eyewear brand or business will experience after integrating it on its e-commerce platform.
{{component="/internal/widgets"}}
1. Seamless integration
It allows eyewear businesses and brands to perform seamless integration of the virtual try-on on multiple platforms and devices, including Android, iOS, web browsers, and more, which will help them to provide their customers with a similar and engaging experience across various platforms.
It also provides brands with a customizable experience by enabling them to customize the virtual try-on SDK according to their image and identity, which will help them to provide their customers with a similar experience throughout the platform or website.
2. Enhanced personalized experience
It helps eyewear brands and businesses to provide their customers with a personalized and realistic experience during online shopping by allowing them to customize different elements of products, such as color, style, design, and material, according to their needs and preferences.
It also helps businesses to let their customers try and explore new products with the help of AR overlays, which will help them to make more informed and confident decisions while helping the brand to bridge the gap between online and offline shopping experiences.
3. Increased conversion rates
With the help of the virtual try-on, eyewear brands or businesses can experience an increase in their overall sales and conversion rates because it helps them to provide their customers with unmatched realism and accuracy during online shopping.
Apart from that, it also allows customers to make more informed purchases by enabling them to use virtual try-on and 3D viewers, which will help them to explore products with advanced technologies, such as augmented reality, artificial intelligence, 3D modeling, and computer vision, which will help the brand to increase their conversions on the website or app.
4. Reduced product returns
By using the virtual try-on and 3D viewer for eyewear brands, brands can improve their product returns on their website or app by enabling their customers to try products online before making any purchasing decisions, which will help them to make more informed buying decisions and reduce uncertainty due to color mismatch.
It will help the eyewear brand and business to reduce the product return rate while increasing customer satisfaction and trust in the product and business, which will also help the brand to improve its market value and growth while standing firm against its competitors.
Case study: How do low-cost glasses reduce their product returns?
Low-cost glasses has used the GlamAR virtual try-on SDK for their e-commerce platform to provide their customers with an engaging yet immersive shopping experience to explore and try different frames and glasses during virtual shopping. With the help of this virtual try-on, the brand has improved its conversions and sales by 35% by fulfilling the gap between online and offline shopping experiences while offering its customers a realistic visualization of its products.
It also helped the brand to reduce its product returns by reducing mismatches in size, color, or alignment, which made customers hesitate to place their orders with confidence and satisfaction on the brand's website or app. It also helped the brand to overcome its challenges, such as product display, personalized experience, and customer trust, by allowing its customers to use AR overlays and 3D models to explore and try different products interactively.
It also helped the business to use 3D models instead of 2D images during product display and representation, along with some engaging features, such as rotation, spinning, and zoom, which will provide their customers with the facility to analyze products from different angles and perspectives. In addition to that, it also helped the brand to seamlessly integrate the virtual try-on on their e-commerce website or app while providing their customers with a smooth and simple shopping experience across the online store.
Conclusion
Eyewear brands and businesses can reduce their product return rates by using various strategies, such as enhanced customer support, comprehensive product data and visualization, and smart return policies, which can also help them to build stronger customer relationships. However, using the virtual try-on on their e-commerce website or app can help the brand to reduce uncertainty among their customers related to product color and style mismatch, which is one of the root causes of increasing product returns.
With the help of the GlamAR virtual eyewear try-on SDK, eyewear brands can improve their customer experience by offering them AR overlays and 3D models to try and explore, respectively, on their website or app in different angles and perspectives. Apart from that, it will also provide businesses with some important features, such as seamless integration, customization options, and cross-platform compatibility, which will help them to provide their customers with a similar shopping experience across various platforms.
With the help of the virtual try-on, eyewear brands can provide their customers with the ability to see how frames fit their face shape, size, and style before purchasing. It will help the brand to set accurate expectations around fit, color, and proportion, which will help its customers to make more confident decisions while reducing the chances of mismatched purchases, buyer’s remorse, and “not as expected” returns, which can be one of the biggest return drivers for online eyewear brands.
Yes, businesses can seamlessly integrate the virtual try-on into Shopify stores with the help of apps or SDKs, which they can directly use on their product detail pages without disrupting existing checkout or catalog flows. Most of the virtual try-on solutions also provide brands with support for quick setup, automatic product syncing, and mobile-first performance, which can help them to deploy the tool at scale and provide their customers with better services.
Yes, brands can also use 3D product visualization software to reduce the return rates because it allows users to rotate, zoom, and inspect eyewear frames from different angles and perspectives. It also helps the brand to improve transparency around frame thickness, design details, and build quality while helping their customers understand what they’re buying, aligning their expectations with reality, which will lead to fewer surprises post-delivery and a measurable reduction in returns.
Yes, eyewear brands can fully customize the virtual try-on experience according to their brand’s image and identity by customizing its colors, UI elements, button styles, frame sorting logic, and even camera behavior. With the help of advanced virtual try-on solutions, brands can also customize their workflows, multilingual support, and brand-specific recommendations, which will help them make the experience feel more native for their customers rather than third-party.
Most eyewear brands start seeing engagement and conversion improvements within weeks of implementation, as they experience a decrease in return rates that typically follows within one to two sales cycles as customer behavior shifts toward more confident purchasing, which will help them to see faster results when virtual try-on is prominently placed on product pages and supported by analytics tracking.
No, customers do not have to download an additional application to use the virtual try-on because it is a web-based experience and runs directly in the browser, which will provide customers with access to the experience instantly on mobile or desktop. It will help the brand to opt for frictionless access so that they can see an improvement in the adoption rates, ensure higher usage across devices, and remove a major barrier to entry for first-time shoppers.
Discover how AR, VR and 3D can drive revenue growth in 2026
Schedule a call with our team
.png)
