How can clothing brands cut the cost of order returns?

Since the covid crisis, online sales have jumped: +12% in the first quarter of 2022 according to Fevad. It is good news that retailers, and clothing brands in particular, are treating with a great deal of caution.

Because a rise in sales also means a rise in the cost of returns.

The main reason: bracketing.

Let’s look at:

• what this phenomenon actually is,
• how to tackle it with Fitizzy’s clothing size recommendation plugin,
• and the main reasons behind order returns.

What is bracketing?

Bracketing is a (bad) habit that consumers are picking up more and more. Afraid of choosing the wrong clothing size when they shop online, they prefer to order several identical products in different sizes, intending to keep only one and send the rest back.

The practice has one obvious advantage for consumers, since returns are free in the vast majority of cases.

But it leads to considerable losses for online retailers, who bear the full cost of returns: postage, the cost of putting products back into stock, reconditioning and repackaging… A solution to this problem clearly needs to be found.

A tool that works for the consumer and the brand alike

To this day, there is no clothing size standard. Which means that your size can vary from one brand to the next. A Small at one retailer is the same as a Medium at another.

Brands grade their sizes differently because:

• They do not use the same morphotype: once it has identified its target customer, each brand produces its own morphotype, a kind of virtual mannequin. It is from that mannequin that the brand’s whole size range is derived.
• They do not apply the same quality standards in their manufacturing workshops.
• They do not work with the same suppliers.
• Some fabrics can shrink in the wash.
• They do not use the same sizing systems.

This situation clearly encourages “bracketing” when people shop online.

To counter the phenomenon, Fitizzy has developed a size recommendation plugin. The solution is now used by many ready-to-wear retailers such as Promod, Naf Naf, Celio, Devred, Tara Jarmon and Caroll.

On their e-commerce site, and more specifically on their product pages, the plugin is installed as a call-to-action button reading “Find your size”.

1. When the user clicks that button, they enter a few details about their body shape.
2. That data is cross-referenced with the brand’s technical information in order to give them a recommendation for the size that fits best for the garment they have chosen.

The solution gives consumers confidence when they buy online – they are less worried about getting the size wrong.

On the brand side, the plugin provides a number of particularly interesting data points, useful for optimising your online sales:

• number of models and of sizes sold online,
• basket value,
• products added to the basket,
• purchase or basket abandonment,
• the content of the recommendation given,
• number of pages viewed on their e-commerce site,
• number of clicks on the call-to-action button,
• number of times the plugin was opened by a visitor.

Through a dedicated dashboard, each brand finds all of its data set out as charts. These performance indicators are used by the brand’s various teams, including its pattern makers, to:

• analyse current morphological data,
• identify the body shapes most in demand among customers,
• optimise new collections,
• manage stock allocation more effectively.

Collecting this data allows brands to understand their consumers’ needs and market trends better. The aim: to optimise new collections by analysing current morphological data.

An analysis of order returns at a brand specialising in women’s ready-to-wear

To show you what the Fitizzy recommendation plugin is worth, we are sharing data here on the order returns recorded in 2021 by a French women’s ready-to-wear brand that was not using a size recommendation solution.

Over the period February – August 2021:

• This brand recorded 35,132 online order returns.
• Of those 35,132 returns, 14,838 were linked to size problems, or 42.23% of the items sent back.
• In the TOP 3 items returned we find the dress (20%), the t-shirt (13.5%) and trousers (12.5%).

Over the period September – December 2021:

• This brand recorded 16,546 online order returns.
• Once again, of those 16,546 returns, 7,444 were linked to size problems, or 44.99% of the items sent back.
• In the TOP 3 items returned we find the jumper (16%), trousers (16%) and the shirt (10%).

Conclusion:

What we can see is:

• more returns on the Spring – Summer collection
• In both periods, close to half of all returns were linked to size problems.

Hence how important it is to use size recommendation solutions such as the Fitizzy plugin.

If you would like to see this plugin, how it works and how it can be implemented on your e-commerce site, ask us for a demo.

Would you like to digitalise your purchase journeys?

Contact our team to find out more and to arrange a personalised demonstration.

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