Top Reasons Why People Return Clothing Purchased Online

Posted by Big Brand Wholesale.com on 5th Jul 2020

Today we are continuing on with AMAZING STATISTICS! OMG I so totally LOVE stats about buyers. Best of all, we don’t even have to pay for this data; we just let the big companies pay for it then we learn from it. Let’s dive in!

In order to get truly accurate data, we have to look at age groups. For this article, the demographics will be divided like this:

Gen Z as 18-21 year olds. Yes, Gen Z birthdates go much lower, but legally speaking, you have to be 18 to make a purchase online. (Trust me; I am fully aware that younger kids do make purchases. My sons do all the time!)

Millennials: 23-38 year olds. This gen grew up with cell phones.

Gen X: 39-54 year olds. This is me! I remember Atari!

Baby Boomers: 55-73 year olds. Would you believe that our company, BigBrandWholesale actually has about 14% buyers in this age bracket? YES, Grandma CAN sell online too!!

For this survey, “What is the MOST COMMON reason for you to RETURN online purchases?” was asked. And here’s the results (the graph below is hard to read, but we will review it in detail, so don’t worry!):

GEN Z

Sooooo… when it comes to Generation Z (which is only three-years worth of people since we are forced to start this survey at 18-years old), the Top 3 Reasons they return something are:

Didn’t Fit

Item Didn’t Match the Listing!

Shipping Sucked! It arrived Broken!!

By looking at those 3 reasons, we can safely agree that two out of three are the sellers fault. Sellers CAN pack it more securely and sellers CAN take more time to provide more details and photos. In fact, we just wrote an article the other day about this. However, we can’t ever force people to actually READ the listing. It isn’t uncommon for people to simply not read and rush to buy then realize it isn’t what they wanted when it arrives. With that in mind, there’s no way to force people to read but you CAN Structure Your Listings for Maximum Sales (and Lessen Returns!).

MILLENNIALS

This age group has the identical complains as Gen Z but they experience “It didn’t fit” at an even higher ratio. Again, you can’t make someone read and you have no way to force a shopper to look at measurements but what you CAN do is utilize a Mannequin to demonstrate the size of the item. Full size mannequins and Torso Mannequins not only make the merchandise look nicer but they also allow the buyer to see HOW it will fit. This will automatically cut back on returns. Then, if you spend the time packaging it better and adding more Product Details, you will find that Returns substantially lessen!

GEN X

This is my generation so I feel I can confidently agree with these results. “It didn’t fit” is the #1 reason I have pretty much stopped buying clothing online unless it’s a famous brand that I know always manufactures with the same sizing.

Equally “It’s not what was in the friggin listing!” is another major gripe. Damn you, Amazon! I have ordered so many items that were not advertised correctly. My most recent one was artificial grass tiles. The listing said 1-foot x 1-foot. They showed up at 11.5 inches x 11 inches. That might sound anal, but it isn’t when the space you need to cover is exactly 12 inches… so that royally sucked!

Of course an item arriving damaged is lousy for everyone. I have always had my fair share of destroyed stuff. Usually it’s the carriers fault but if the company packed it better, 90% of the damage could have been prevented. On the other hand, I absolutely understand that no company is going to ship a single t-shirt inside a box for $12 when they can ship it in a poly bag for $6 (Learn how to ship through USPS cheap here!).

BOOMERS

Boomers mostly return stuff because it didn’t fit. Like seriously, look at the graph… it’s like HALF of the entire reason they send stuff back!

The other reasons Boomers Return Sh*t is the same as every other generation; arrived broken or they feel it didn’t match the listing description.

LEAST COMMON REASONS FOR RETURNING STUFF

GEN Z: “Seller shipped wrong item” is tied with “I had every intention on using it once then returning it” (AKA: Dishonesty / Scam) and “I changed my mind / Don’t need it anymore”.

MILLENNIALS: It took too long to arrive!

GEN X: Used it once then returned it / Never planned to keep it

BOOMERS: Just bought it to use it once then return it

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED TODAY, KIDS?

Well, we learned that, as sellers, we have to make sure we are describing stuff to the highest level. BUT this also means structuring our listings correctly.

We also learned that “It doesn’t fit” is absolutely the #1 reason for Returns; so mannequins are a must.

Fast shipping is imperative because Millennials will return it in a heartbeat if it doesn’t arrive pronto

Making sure the correct stuff is shipped with eliminate a bit of Returns

And… unfortunately… a LOT of people have every intention of using it one time then returning it. Depending WHERE you sell (Amazon, eBay, Your own site, etc) you may want to evaluate your return policy if possible. For specific items that you think could be worn then returned destroyed you have a few options.

First, depending on the merchandise, you can add a sticker that prevents the person from using it then returning (such as perfume, cologne, lotion, etc):

The stickers shown above are under 20-cents each on Amazon. A single bogus return PREVENTED will pay for all 100 stickers but there’s also cheaper options, like these ones that are only 13-cents each and cool hologram:

Or this 500 pack for only $24:

if the item is clothing, you can do what Nordstrom or other stores do; apply your own tag using a cheap tagging gun to the outside of a garment. You have to pick a place on the garment that NOBODY would ever wear it with a tag hanging off. You can score a nice, cheap tagging gun that comes with free plastic barbs for as little as $8 on Amazon Prime:

As far as the paper tags go, you can use pretty much anything from Printable Tags to basic Cardstrock tags to cutting out some cardstock paper or even shooting the barb through your business card. Here’s a couple ideas (Amazon):

200 tags for under $7!