The Berlin online fashion retailer Zalando SE presented new measures on Friday with which the number of returns is to be reduced. Customer: Inside, which sends a particularly large number of articles back, now threatens to block the order function.
According to the company, the company will receive a warning by email in the future. “This proactive step gives you the opportunity to reflect on and adapt your behavior before further measures are taken,” said Zalando.
If this warning does not fruit, the e-commerce specialist reserves sharper measures. “For the small number of customers: Inside, which continues to send disproportionately many articles, we restrict certain functions in your account in the second step,” said the online retailer. “In the most serious cases, in which permanently overly returned, we pause the account for twelve months.”
During this time, no new orders are possible, the company explained. Those affected by the customer could “continue to access their account, send articles back from orders that have already been made, browse through the app or exercise their data protection rights”.
The online retailer fights “disproportionately high return rates”
The company justified the new regulations in a statement. “Disproportionately high return rates not only affect Zalando, but are also an industry-wide problem in the entire online fashion industry,” it says. “This has its price: For example, the large number of returns influences product availability for others: inside, affects processes with us and partners and is associated with avoidable environmental pollution.”
At the same time, the online retailer pointed out that he wanted to contribute to reducing the number of returns through new services himself. In order to enable the “best possible purchase decision” inside, Zalando will therefore “provide better product information and smart tools”.
For example, the company relies on “Videos and 360 ° pictures on our product pages, detailed product descriptions and even augmented reality samples” as well as more precise size advice. In addition, Zalando claims to work on a “virtual changing room”, in which prospect: inside clothes can try on your own.