Several retailers, including Mountain Warehouse, THG (THG.L) and Moss Bros, are now charging a fee to shoppers who return items purchased online.
According to The Telegraph, menswear retailer Moss Bros, sporting goods retailer Mountain Warehouse and online retailer and technology group The Hut Group (THG) have introduced fees for consumers returning purchased items.
THG, which owns brands such as Lookfantasic, MyProtein and Glossybox, now charges £2.99 per order for returns, while Mountain Warehouse introduced a £2 fee from the end of October.
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Moss Bros, meanwhile, said it had introduced a fee following a review of the wider market. Its customers can opt for the free Royal Mail service or pay £2.99 for a courier to collect the shipment.
For orders placed after 29th October, Mountain Warehouse has introduced a £2 charge which will be deducted from the total refund.
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Other companies are expected to follow suit, particularly in the fashion sector, where return rates have increased.
The move comes after retailers Zara and Boohoo (BOO.L) introduced fees for returning items last year as part of a broader shift in the industry to offset rising order fulfillment costs for online returns.
According to specialist ReBound, one in three fashion products purchased online is returned. That’s about twice as many as for items purchased in stores.
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“For years, customers have viewed fast-fashion retailers as a two-step transaction. They buy multiple sizes of the same item and return the ones that don’t fit. This costs a lot of money and the only way to stop this practice is to charge customers to return products,” said Danni Hewson, financial analyst at AJ Bell.
“Although this measure could dampen demand, more and more retailers are taking this route and it would therefore not be unusual.”
KPMG estimates that by 2020, up to half of clothes purchased online were returned, costing businesses around £7 billion each year.
