Return to sender
VICKY SHAW LOOKS AT HOW SHOPS ARE FEELING THE IMPACT FROM ALL THE ITEMS WE’RE TAKING BACK
SO, YOU think you’ve found the perfect outfit, only to find that in the size you picked, you can hardly pull the material over your limbs – or, equally annoyingly, it completely swamps your frame.
If this sounds familiar, you’re far from alone. Shoppers’ frustrations at clothing being either too big or much smaller than they’d imagined are seen as a major driver behind the large number of items generally wending their way back to shops after we’ve bought them.
It’s also causing a headache for retailers, as many of us now buy items fully intending to send at least some of them back.
According to research from Barclaycard, UK shoppers are returning around £7 billion-worth of purchases every year.
A quarter (26%) of retailers have seen a rise in returns in-store and online over the past two years.
The figures are particularly high among fashion, footwear and accessory retailers, as consumers increasingly change their minds after making a purchase, with nearly two-fifths (37%) of these businesses reporting that refunds have risen since 2016.
Here is a look at our habits when it comes to returning shopping – and the impact it’s having.
Just how much clothing are we returning?
Staggeringly, Barclaycard found nearly half the amount people spend on clothes online each year, ends up being refunded.
While we splash out £313 on average on online clothes shopping each year, £146-worth of this is sent back.
A third (33%) of shoppers say they buy clothes online expecting that items will be unsuitable before they’ve even tried them on.
What impact is variation in sizing having?
Barclaycard found the number one reason given by shoppers for returning clothes is the way in which the same clothes size can vary.
Two-fifths (40%) of people return clothing bought online, because items don’t fit as they expect.
Nearly one in 10 (9%) shoppers have taken to buying multiple sizes of the same item and returning those that don’t fit.
What else is encouraging us to make so many returns?
Many people also see returning items as relatively easy – as well as often being free.
Over half (52%) of shoppers think that retailers have made the returns process more convenient.
This may partly be down to stores competing for our cash – as just over half (54%) of retailers think that customers’ decisions about where to shop are now influenced by the vendor’s returns policy.
Serial returning could hit you in the wallet – whether you do it or not
Returning so many items may be convenient – but ultimately, there’s a price to pay.
Three in 10 (29%) retailers say they have increased the price of items to cover the cost of processing and managing returns, while nearly a quarter (23%) have cut the length of time customers have to make a return – to give themselves a clearer idea of how much stock is on their books.
What retailers are doing to improve matters
On the plus side for shoppers though, more than half (52%) of retailers have introduced more information about products online to help people decide, such as exact measurements.
And 48% of retailers have made their returns policy more transparent, such as making it more prominent on a website, Barclaycard found.
Meanwhile, a major study into people’s changing body shapes is also under way – which should help retailers to improve sizing.
The Shape GB project will measure 30,000 men and women, collecting over 100 measurements of each person.
Richard Barnes, founder of Select Research, which is managing the survey, says: “Using an app, we can now measure body shape on a huge scale, which means we can look at new ways of integrating that into the manufacturing process.”
Alan Wragg, technical director from F&F at Tesco, says a previous survey from Shape GB, which helped better define its childrenswear sizing, resulted in a significant decrease in returns.
He says: “The next stage is now on adult clothes sizing, and we hope the whole nation can take part to try and solve a problem that affects almost everyone in some way.”