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Gloucestershire Business News

Zara introduces returns charge for customers

Fashion retailer Zara is now charging customers to return products bought online.

Since the beginning of May, web shoppers at the global clothing chain have been charged £1.95 to send back items, with the fee deducted from their refund, reports Retail Gazette.

Items bought in store can still be returned to shops in the same region free of charge.

The move by Zara, which has stores across the UK, is expected to be watched closely by other fashion retailers in the face of soaring return rates.

Boohoo revealed last week that the amount customers were sending back had impacted its full-year profits. The fast fashion retailer said customers had returned items at a higher rate than before the pandemic.

Returns levels had plunged across the fashion industry during lockdowns as people bought more loungewear, which is less fit oriented.

It is thought people are now sending back items at a higher rate as they buy more trend-led products.

Returns have long been a costly headache for fashion retailers and have eroded margins.

One in three fashion items bought online are sent back, according to returns specialist ReBound. This is around double the rate for shop-bought goods.

Barclaycard research found that 30 per cent of shoppers deliberately over-purchase and subsequently return unwanted items with 19 per cent admitting they order multiple versions of the same item so they could make their mind up when they're delivered.

A large majority of returned items end up in landfill, as it is too expensive for companies to prepare them for reselling. Transporting returned inventory creates millions of metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

Punchline says: "Is this the beginning of the end for free postal returns?

"The whole business model is unsustainable with businesses facing rising costs for fuel and manpower. Let alone the environmental impact."

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