This is now changing in online retail: the first shops charge money for returns

Created: 2022-06-02 13:52

By: Fee Halberstadt

Free returns are commonplace in online retail and many of the customers enjoy this advantage.

The first fashion chains are now changing that.

Kassel – Two fashion retailers have recently set an example and demand a fixed price for the return of packages.

Japanese fast fashion retailer Uniqlo was the first to introduce this change and is now charging 2.95 euros for each return package.

The fashion chain Zara followed shortly thereafter and has been charging 1.95 euros per package since then, as Chip reports.

Previously, mind or return costs were usually free.

Usually these are only small retailers who cannot keep their heads above water without these costs.

"Of course, that does not cover the actual costs of the returns by a long shot," said Marco Atzberger, returns expert at the Cologne trade research institute EHI, to the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ).

The costs for the fashion groups are higher for returns, because the return of a product does not only include transport.

Each item of clothing returned must be repackaged and repaired: buttons sewn on, seams repaired and ironed.

Some of the products are also disposed of.

Many things are now ordered online instead of buying them in stores.

(Iconic image) © Christin Klose/dpa

Fee-based returns from fashion retailers: The first charge money for the return

There is always criticism that many large fashion houses are for the protection of the environment, but send billions of packages back and forth: According to the SZ, this is not a reason for the change.

According to some experts, Uniqlo and Zara are experiments.

They want to find out up to what point the customers are following along and when it is too much for them.

Björn Asdecker, one of the leading returns experts and head of the returns management research group at the University of Bamberg, hopes that Zara and Uniqlo have started the launch of paid returns.

"Maybe there's a start now," he said.

In Germany, around 75 percent of all packages are returned, as Chip explains, citing a quota from the EHI.

Otto and Zalando have already told the SZ whether they also want to change their model.

“We will definitely not ask our customers to pay extra for paid returns at a time when they are additionally burdened by rising energy prices and various goods,” said a spokesman for the Otto Group.

And Zalando does not plan to pass on the resulting costs to the customer either, since free returns have been “part of our business model and service promise since day one”.

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Whether other fashion retailers will follow Zara and Uniqlo's attempts or keep their current business model remains unknown for the time being.

During the Corona pandemic, the purchasing behavior of many people changed and online trading experienced an upswing.

Since there are currently no longer any restrictions on shopping, people can go shopping normally again.

The run on online shopping could therefore level off again.

"In the case of fashion, the fact that we expect an end to free returns, which has been common practice up to now and which customers also expect, makes things even more difficult," said the Federal Association of E-Commerce and Mail Order (BEVH) to the SZ.

They cite the high prices for transport and packaging as the reason, because these “cause retailers to pass these costs on to customers to a greater extent.”

First fashion retailers with fee-based returns: will other shops follow?

Asdecker is already seeing the first movements in the market, albeit hesitantly for the time being.

“However, the willingness to change that can be observed remains at the homeopathic level.

I don't see any real trend yet.

To me, this is a missed opportunity for many traders.

They are still acting too hesitantly.” In an interview with the SZ, the returns expert estimates that many retailers are “shy about taking the risk.” That is why they are now first observing how customers react to the changeover at Zara and Uniqlo.

(Fee Halberstadt)