在当今年代，时髦业角逐激烈，零售商们用各种方法让退货变得不再困难。大部分状况下，买家们仅需把服装带回服饰店就能了。这虽然让退换货物变得非常便利，却催生出了不少先很多购买产品，再退还回去的用户。这看上去无伤大雅，但企业的收益却因此遭到影响。面临这一趋势，不少公司却没想出相应的对策。
Weve all done it. We buy something we think we like and then change our minds about it. Whether panic buying, an impulse purchase or shoppers remorse1, were fortunate many companies allow us to easily exchange or refund2 items. In fact its so easy these days that retailers5 are seeing an increase in a new type of shopper: the serial6 returner.
A serial returner is someone who buys items, often in bulk, only to return most of them. 41-year-old Hester Grainger, founder7 of Mumala Club, estimates spending 300 to 400 each month on clothes, but returning around 80%, she told the BBC. This isnt unique. Barclaycard, which processes nearly half of the UKs credit and debit8 card transactions, says that in the last two years 26% of retailers have seen an increase in in-store and online returns with the number of items being sent back up by 22%.
Its a problem for companies. Handling these returns eats into profits. Free delivery for the customer means the company foots the bill. Items may need to be repackaged. They are damaged - making them unfit for resale. Tony Mannix, CEO of Clipper, a logistics firm that handles returned goods for major retailers, said about 5% of them end up being binned9. Sometimes the fast fashion cycle has moved on. By the time the item comes back, it becomes a cut-price item on a reduced-to-clear rail - at further loss to the company.
Some companies are taking action to deter10 this behaviour. According to a BBC article, four in ten retailers now say they charge for returns to discourage the sending of non-faulty items. online retail3 giant Amazon was reported to have started barring customers with too many returned items. This is something a study by retail management system Brightpearl found over half of UK fashion retailers would consider. And Barclaycard says a third of retailers have hiked their prices to cover these returns.
But Vicky Brock, director of data innovation at ReBound11 Returns, a returns management software system, believes this isnt the best strategy. Speaking in a BBC article, she says discouraging returns shows a lack of understanding by the retailer4. Using data, companies can reduce returns by helping12 customers choose better. Some companies such as Uniqlo and Asos already provide a suggested size based on the customers previous purchases and information on height and weight. Ultimately, she says, returns are now as much a part of the shopping experience as buying things, and shops need to take this into consideration.
