Customer Service

3 ways retailers are losing trust

The retailers who want to get ahead need to act on the feedback customers are taking the time to share. If they don’t, their competitors will.

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October 22, 2026 by Taylor Cunningham — Vice President of US Marketing, Trustpilot

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Consumer trust is the most valuable currency for a business, especially at this moment when algorithms and AI recommendations are influencing discovery more than ever before.

It can be tempting to try new things to stay competitive — many jumped into the checkout-free technology craze and then out after it failed to take off. Retailers need to adapt, but they also need to strike a balance between innovating the customer experience and doing so without causing disruptions.

At Trustpilot, we analyzed more than 4.5 million consumer reviews on our platform for U.S. retail businesses to understand what's affecting retailers' reputations the most, where buyers experience the most friction in their shopping journey, and what shoppers expect from retailers today.

AI without human touchpoints

The retail industry has seen major highs and lows in the past few years, and as a result, AI feels like a silver bullet for businesses looking to lower costs and increase sales. Our analysis of Trustpilot reviews across more than 16,000 US retail businesses identified two areas where AI is hurting more than it's helping, and one that helps retailers stand out.

First: AI is completely missing the mark in after-purchase support when consumers need help dealing with missing refunds or delivery failures. Customers voiced feeling trapped in automated loops when they weren't able to reach a human to resolve issues that appeared too complex for chatbots – 60% of AI-related retail reviews are one star.

Second: AI can create a credibility risk to retailers that over-rely on it to automate personalized recommendations. Reviews show that consumers believe skilled human stylists have been replaced with algorithms that lack nuance or suggest duplicate items. Retailers should carefully consider their approach to AI-led curation and verify its impact on customer experience and engagement. In some cases, those that lean more into human expertise, like ShopMy did for its new feature, are actually standing out.

Third: there are areas where AI-enabled experiences result in more positive consumer sentiment, particularly in the discovery and visualization part of the customer journey. Smart search tools and virtual try-on features were described as game changers in positive reviews.

The risk of return fees

The recent shift toward paid returns and restocking fees is putting brand equity to the test and customer lifetime value at risk. While reverse logistics costs are rising, the real question is how much potential return revenue you risk to protect short-term margins in a difficult financial climate. Consumers are not happy about the fees, viewing them as unfair — particularly when the return is necessitated by a company error. When fees are mentioned in reviews, retailers see a drop of 1.69 stars and a sentiment swing from a positive score of approximately +0.50 to a deeply negative −0.30, with many expressing "I will never shop here again" in response to the fees.

The return experience is a make-or-break moment in the customer journey, and can be an excellent opportunity to build consumer loyalty. Fees and unfulfilled refunds create memorable friction, giving rise to the "annoyance economy," and should be reassessed — be it in how they're rolled out, communicated, or imposed. After all, research shows that "65 percent of a company's sales come from returning customers."

Unreliable delivery logistics

A lost package can seriously damage reputation, with consumers scoring businesses 0.9 to 1.0 stars lower than delivery speed complaints across all regions. Even more damaging is if the problem can't be solved for customers who have paid for shipping insurance because AI or the carrier marked the item as delivered.

The e-commerce market is expected to total over $7.9 trillion by 2027, and fulfillment will remain a key part of the experience. Retailers need to closely evaluate who they outsource those operations to — last-mile delivery providers like Veho are closing the gap in this area.

Here's what retailers should focus on to build and maintain trust

Retailers should prioritize listening to one to two star reviews to identify the top issues customers are facing. Trust is built slowly and lost quickly, so responding to criticism goes a long way.

AI is an incredible asset in the right places: it's improving discovery and pre-purchase experiences — important to keep in mind when review and trust sites like Trustpilot are the second most-cited source category in LLM responses and recommendations. When incorporating AI into your customer experience/support function, offer consumers a clear path to human support for complex issues, and don't rely solely on AI for curation and styling.

If returns are the issue, start experimenting with a more flexible approach that doesn't immediately feel like a penalty to consumers. Returns are an overlooked way to build loyalty and can be an easy place to start.

When delivery is the problem, connect with your logistics team and identify where problems are happening — is it a specific region, item, provider, or type of dwelling that's creating the most issues? How are delivery delays or missing packages being handled in terms of communication or refunds?

Retailers are about to enter the holiday season, the busiest time of the year. Listening is the bare minimum. The retailers who want to get ahead also need to act on the feedback their customers are taking the time to share. If they don't, their competitors will.

About Taylor Cunningham

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