Consumers Chafe as Clothing Retailers Tighten Returns Rules

The age of easy clothing returns is coming to an end.

A report Tuesday (June 20) by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) says nonreturnable items are becoming increasingly common.

For example, secondhand clothing seller Poshmark has seen a  61% increase in items marked “new with tags” and featuring the words “final sale” in the description since last year. The term “final sale” means that even if a garment doesn’t fit, consumers can’t return it.

It’s a reality consumers are having difficulty dealing with.

“It can create unnecessary friction and start annoying them,” said Sandrine Devillard, senior partner at McKinsey who oversees the firm’s North American apparel operations.

The trend has left shoppers finding new ways to strategize their purchases, the WSJ notes. The report offers the example of a men’s clothing supervisor in Miami who shops final sales online and has garments altered as needed by his tailor.

Chicago-based wardrobe stylist Katie Schuppler told the newspaper many of her clients don’t realize they’d bought something on final sale until they tried to return it.

“It comes up a lot when you’re panic-buying and not even paying attention,” she said.

As noted here last week, many retailers are tightening their returns standards, a potentially risky bet, considering how much consumers like the ability to make easy returns.

When it comes to online returns — defined here as a retailer providing free online returns using printable shipping labels — 33.4% of U.S. consumers consider the feature very or extremely important, according to recent PYMNTS research.

“Given its popularity, it is not a stretch that the retailer pullback on returns to boost margins may come at the expense of customer loyalty,” PYMNTS wrote. “However, limiting returns is a risk some merchants are willing to make, given the cost incurred on their end to process them. In 2022 alone, an estimated 16.5% of all merchandise bought online was returned.”

And while retail giants such as Amazon seem — so far — secure in charging some sort of fee for returns, other companies are exploring alternatives. For example, returns technology provider Optoro announced in March that Gap would begin using its portal to offer more intuitive returns experience that includes instant exchanges and label-free, box-free drop-off locations.

It’s not just online retailers changing their returns policies. As reported here last month, brick-and-mortar retailers such as J.C. Penney, Footlocker and J. Crew all charge consumers for returns by mail.

“For the pure eComm players, there may be the risk of losing the sale upon curtailing free shipping; for the omnichannel players, steering the consumer away from the mailbox toward the store itself has a knock-on effect — one that can be positive,” PYMNTS wrote.