Fashion Returns Research Analysis | 5th May 2022 | Polling results | Hubbub

Fashion Returns Research Analysis

Buying clothes/ accessories online

• 42% of people are buying clothes/accessories online every month. Three quarters of 16-24 year-olds buy online every month.

• Of those who order clothes/accessories online 29% say they do so more frequently than they did before Covid-19 and a quarter say they shop for clothes/accessories in store less.

• When shopping online, the average number of items bought is 3 at a time. 16-24 year-olds tend to buy more items when they shop online compared to any other age group.

Returns

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69% of people who shop for clothes/accessories online return them.

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Only 18% of 16-34 year-olds say they never return clothes/accessories they buy online.

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With the average number of items bought when people shop online being 3, the average number of items returned is 2.

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66% returned one or more pieces they had bought online compared to 45% of items bought in store.

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23% order things in multiple sizes and return the ones that don’t fit. 21% say they order multiple outfits and return items they don’t like. 7% of respondents admit they order clothes/accessories to wear once and then return them.

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The most common reason for returning clothes/ accessories bought online are poor fitting clothes/ wrong size (56% and 48% respectively). 34% return items due to poor quality.

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31% say they return items bought online because they don’t look like the picture.

Awareness •

46% of those who buy online and return, disagreed that as a customer, they should pay to return a piece of clothing/accessory they’ve bought online – this was more so among women than men (59% vs 31% respectively).

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More than three quarters (76%) said they were more likely to buy from retailers that provide free returns.

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61% agreed that there is an environmental impact of returning clothes/accessories bought online. Of those who agreed with this statement, 75% said they are concerned about the environmental impact of returning clothes/accessories purchased online. This was even more prominent among 16-24 year-olds, of which 82% stated they were concerned.

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65% said they would like brands to re-sell clothes/ accessories that are returned to them from online shopping.

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More than half (56%) agree that too many clothes/ accessories purchased online are returned in the UK.

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When asked what they think happens to clothes/ accessories/accessories bought online when they are returned to the seller, more than half (53%) said they are resold unless they’re broken or faulty.

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Only 15% said they are destroyed. This is more than double the number of people since previous polling, where only 7% thought they were destroyed.

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Amongst 16-24 year-olds 25% said they thought they were destroyed and 40% resold.

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21% of respondents believe returned clothes/ accessories are recycled while 15% think they go to charity shops.

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There are still some that have never thought about what happens to the clothes/accessories they return (10%) and 6% are unsure.

Attitudes towards returned clothes

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37% said they would be happy to buy clothes/ accessories other people have returned at the original price. 69% who said they’d be happy to buy clothes/accessories other people have returned at a reduced price.

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The top three actions respondents feel retailers/ brands need to do to make people return fewer items are: More customer feedback to show quality and fit of the product (45%), better, more detailed information/description about the products (43%), better quality of products (39%).

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51% of people said that if they discovered returns were being destroyed or sent to landfill said they would care enough to no longer shop with that retailer. This was more so among those aged 35+.

Of those aged 16-34, this dropped to 42%.

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Of those who think clothes/accessories purchased online get destroyed when they are returned, 41% said that this doesn’t change their shopping habits.

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Nearly one in five say they don’t care and feel retailers can do what they want.

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