H&M has become the latest well-known brand to begin charging for returns – albeit on a trial basis. “We are testing it as a possible measure we could take, all depending on how the customers react,” H&M’s CEO Helena Helmersson recently told Bloomberg3.
The global fashion retailer will trial paid returns in Norway and the UK as it battles inflation-driven currency effects across its business. “There’s still quite a lot of uncertainty, but [inflation] looks like it has peaked and is slowly but surely leveling out. The biggest factor affecting us going forward is the US dollar.”
Returns are a long-standing, expensive headache for online retailers, with around 30% of all orders returned4. For clothing brands, it’s even higher. Recently, H&M’s leading competitor ZARA began charging customers for returns in a move which caused controversy amongst customers.
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