There are a few strategies that rural suppliers need to adopt to improve their return and refund processes:

Investing in Technology: Leveraging affordable and user-friendly technological solutions for order tracking, inventory management, and customer communication can streamline the delivery process. In turn, the supplier will benefit from lower returns owing to gaps in expectations and there will be minimal errors in the refund process.

Partnering with Reliable Logistics Providers: Collaborating with logistics companies that specialize in rural areas and offer efficient reverse logistics services can help mitigate delays and costs. Their logistics providers are aware of the challenges and provide advice beyond just the courier services. Their payment processes are already optimized for such activities. Following a back-to-back matching process will help the rural suppliers benefit from their learnings. However, we need to be cautious against blindly following the processes, as rural businesses are more diverse than urban brands. Tweaks, as applicable will be necessary to ensure minimal losses. 

Clear Communication: Developing clear, concise, and culturally appropriate return and refund policies and ensuring they are effectively communicated to customers can reduce confusion and improve satisfaction. The earlier constraints of language are minimized using modern technology, where state-of-the-art translation services are provided free or against a nominal subscription fee.

Enhanced Customer Service: Training local staff to handle returns and refunds efficiently and empathetically can improve customer experiences and build trust. These can be effectively managed if the rural suppliers group together, as they do while availing microfinance from the likes of VFS Capital. Divided costs between the suppliers may not be as expensive and within the reach of rural suppliers. 

Quality Control: This is also similar to the skills training in customer service. Investing in quality control and customer feedback mechanisms can help identify and address product issues, reducing the incidence of returns. Better quality control helps rural suppliers ensure that their products meet high standards before being sent out to the customers. This reduces defects and dissatisfaction, leading to fewer return requests. Enhanced quality also builds customer trust and loyalty, ultimately improving the efficiency and profitability of the supply chain.

For artisans providing customized products, it is key that they have transparent communication and effective quality control. Customers need to have the confidence that finished handicrafts may not match the sample provided, but will still be of good quality.

Summing up, as with every change, there are challenges in implementing the D2C model for rural suppliers, but one needs to analyse the benefits against them. As long as the benefits outweigh the challenges and short-term pushbacks, moving towards futuristic solutions should not be stalled. And there is no argument that D2C will get more popular with time.