Returns news and archive

Zara to charge customers a fee for returning goods bought online

Without fanfare or a major announcement, Zara last week began charging fees for online shoppers returning its clothes. The 1.95 pound cost will be waived if customers return items in its physical stores, but not if returned via a convenient third party drop-off point. The cost of returns has soared in recent years as online shoppers order...

12 May 2022

Business

Asda to trial doorstep returns for fashion products

Supermarket giant Asda has announced it will be trialling a new return option for fashion items that will allow customers to hand any unwanted products to a delivery driver when accepting an Asda grocery order at home. The trial will span 48 locations and enables customers to return products from over 100 retailers, including Asos, Missguided...

26 Apr 2022

Retail

DHL announces new partnership with returns platform ZigZag

DHL Parcel UK has announced a new partnership with returns platform ZigZag, which will allow ZigZag’s network of more than 100 retailers including Selfridges, Gap and Superdry access to DHL’s ‘Just Right Returns’ service. The partnership will mean that ZigZag, a software solution that helps e-commerce retailers manage returns, will be able to...

4 Apr 2022

RetailFeatured

Cost of returns soars to 761 billion dollars

Retailers expect more than 761 billion dollars of unwanted merchandise sold last year to be returned by consumers, according to a report released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Appriss Retail. This accounts for an average of 16.6 percent of total U.S. retail sales, which soared to 4.583 trillion dollars in 2021. “As total retail...

26 Jan 2022

RetailFeatured

Pandemic holiday returns magnify overlooked logistics problems

The coronavirus pandemic has posed many challenges for both online and brick-and-mortar retailers alike, but managing the impending extended and potentially excessive holiday returns season will likely be a challenge that continues well beyond a virus’s temporary turmoil. This could be a chance for the retail sector to prioritize an often...

3 Jan 2022

Retail

Omicron hesitation sparks partywear returns

Fashion brands and retailers have experienced a surge in returns in the last three weeks, according to data from returns platform ReBound, as concerns around the Omicron coronavirus variant cause people to change festive plans. ReBound states that it has seen a 48.4 percent increase in returns from November 22 to December 12, compared to the...

17 Dec 2021

Business

Start-up Beawear uses AI to solves e-tailers’ sizing and returns problems

German Start-up Beawear, launched just a few days ago, has dedicated itself to tackling the fashion industry’s many different sizing systems - or the “Wild West” of sizing, as it calls it. Starting from the premise “Imagine you’re shopping online and everything fits,” founders Verena Ziegler and Dr Frauke Link use artificial intelligence for...

15 Dec 2021

Retail

Retailers risk losing customers if they get returns wrong

Over eight in ten (84 percent) online shoppers would stop using a retailer after a bad returns experience, according to new research on shopping trends. The ‘Rethinking Returns: From Returns to Retention’ report from Klarna suggests that retailers risk losing loyal customers if they get returns wrong, as 83 percent of online shoppers admit to...

1 Jun 2021

Retail

UK shoppers sitting on 2.4 billion pounds of unreturned goods

Shoppers in the UK are sitting on a potential 2.4 billion pounds worth of unreturned goods they have bought online as lockdowns have made returning items significantly harder, according to new research. Over half (57 percent) of British shoppers say lockdown restrictions have made the process of returning items bought online time-consuming and a...

10 Feb 2021

Retail

UK fashion retailers face 360 million pounds of Christmas returns

UK fashion retailers face 360 million pounds worth of Christmas 2020 clothing and footwear returns, according to new research. For 2020 as a whole, a year which saw soaring e-commerce sales as companies faced prolonged store closures, apparel retailers face 4.3 billion pounds worth of returns. The proportion of online clothing and footwear sales...

2 Feb 2021

Retail

Brits willing to pay extra for greener delivery and returns

Almost three-quarters of Brits say they’d be willing to pay extra for environmentally-friendly e-commerce options, new data reveals. According to a survey by returns management platform ReBound, 72 percent of Brits would pay extra to subsidise greener delivery and returns options, such as choosing more expensive carrier routes that generate...

1 Feb 2021

Retail

Over half of 1-star reviews linked to post-purchase experience

Over half of 1-star reviews of major UK retailers on consumer review website Trustpilot are attributed to delivery and returns problems, new research reveals. A study of 3,000 1-star reviews on the platform, across eight direct to consumer sectors, found that nearly 40 percent of one-star complaints were attributed to issues with delivery...

27 Jan 2021