them not fi tting or meeting expectations. If shoppers are provided with more detailed information, measurements and realistic photography, they will be less likely to need to order one garment in multiple sizes. “Another major reason that clothing is returned is due to consumers
buying an item, wearing it once and then returning it. By adding a small charge, shoppers will be dissuaded from making spur-of-the-moment purchases, and instead only buy garments they are certain they’ll want to keep long term.” Research commissioned by Retail Economics and Penningtons
Manches Cooper has shown that 46% of shoppers who return products prefer the convenience of returning unwanted items to physical stores. If retailers can capitalise on this, by off ering a positive returns experience and encouraging consumers to visit stores in-person, fewer and fewer returns will be made online. Kerry added: “Focusing on brand loyalty and providing consumers
with excellent customer service, and a more personalised experience, will slowly but surely result in shoppers having less desire to bulk buy and return unwanted items. “T is is a key moment for fashion brands to secure their place as the re-
tailer of choice in a demanding, digital world, and at Rhenus we’re on hand to off er all our support and expertise.” Rhenus Warehousing Solutions Lutterworth has over 30 years’ expe-
rience working with high-profi le brands such as Marks and Spencer, and handles hundreds of millions of fashion items per annum.
To fi nd out how Rhenus Warehousing Solutions Lutterworth can help your business, telephone 01455 200700 or email
wslutterworth@rhenus.com
Kerry Delaney, Managing Director at Rhenus
Warehousing Solutions Lutterworth, said: “Across our distribution centres, we are able to process returns in a way that is reliable, fast, cost eff ective and, most importantly, environmentally friendly. “The use of experienced fashion operatives and the development of innovative solutions and automation can guarantee an increase in delivery speeds, from retailer to consumer and back again, ensuring that stock is able to be quickly returned to sale. From a cost perspective, evolving these systems will also provide retailers with a more benefi cial, long-term solution. “However, the real way that retailers will
survive this new era of fast, online fashion is by implementing innovative solutions to avoid a high level of returns in the fi rst place, such as AI driven technology to predict an accurate fi t of garments, assisting the purchase decision of the consumer.” T e common practice of ‘bracketing’ clothing pur- chases online is damaging to both retailers’ profi t margins and the environment as, once returned, purchases enter the reverse supply chain and often end up in landfi ll. Overall, this transportation pro- cess contributes 15m metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Bracketing, along with other negative habits, is a
consumer behaviour which Zara are taking the bold step to discourage. Kerry continued: “Brands can avoid high levels
of returns by working to improve product descrip- tions, as the main reason items are returned is due to
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