Wardrobing, the practice of buying clothes to wear once or twice before returning them, is on the rise and costing businesses billions of dollars. Retailers and logistics companies are cracking down on this fraudulent activity with new technology and stricter return policies, but the effects will likely be felt by consumers through higher prices and stricter return policies.
Taslim Sheikh-Fraser, a warehouse associate at Go Bolt, a Canadian logistics company, processes a returned item of clothing on Jan 20. Much of what is being handled in this peak return season is last year’s Christmas purchases.Jarrett Stewart knows the look and feel of an item that’s been worn and returned. As a senior vice-president at logistics company GoBolt, he’ll tell you that the tag will be just a little bit skewed in a way that looks reattached.
In November, returns-management company Optoro, which works with brands such as Gap and IKEA, released a report from a survey of 350 U.S.-based senior retail-management employees, as well as hundreds of shoppers. It found that 69 per cent of shoppers surveyed now admit to wardrobing – a nearly 40-per-cent spike from 2023.
Retailers and reverse-logistics companies are cracking down on the trend with new technology and subdividing shoppers to target excessive returns. But efforts to double down on specific customers can only go so far – the effects will be increasingly felt by consumers across the board, through higher prices, stricter return policies or both.A warehouse associate at Go Bolt, a Canadian logistics company, processes a returned item of clothing.
For example, users in an Amazon Prime subreddit thread titled “Is it okay to return used items?” boast of wardrobing. Justifications of the practice range from Amazon being a multibillion-dollar company to the fact that it’s possible to try on an item when shopping in-person, but not online. Though retailers are trying to target individual repeat wardrobers instead of punishing all consumers at once and losing some in the process,Software such as Two Boxes helps retailers understand individual consumer behaviour and determine consumer loyalty and trustworthiness based on return patterns, Mr. Stewart said. It also makes it easier to blacklist those who abuse return policies. The software is used by both logistics companies and retailers.
Wardrobing RETURNS RETAIL LOGISTICS CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
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