Are you sending most of your online purchases back?
For online fashion retailers, returns can be a major headache and a sign that business is not booming.The easing of lockdown restrictions has led to customers going out more and return rates have been rising.
Boohoo said customers had returned items faster than expected in the second half of the year, with the rate now higher than it was before the pandemic.As shopping habits change following the pandemic, the rising cost of living is also hitting consumer spending,Shop prices were up 2.7% year-on-year in April, the highest since September 2011 and up from 2.1% in March, according to the British Retail Consortium.
Julie Palmer, a partner at corporate restructuring firm Begbies Traynor, said that given rising costs, people may hold back on clothes shopping."Boohoo is going to have to come up with some new looks if it is going to stay relevant as it doesn't take long for consumers to shop around for faster, more relevant alternatives these days."Boohoo said that lockdowns in some of the key countries it sells in, like China, meant people were not buying as many clothes.
International delivery delays due to Covid also caused issues in getting stock from factories and out to customers.To combat these problems, Boohoo said it was making its supply chain more flexible, its delivery network larger and investing in a new distribution hub in the US. But its clothes could start to cost more with the company only committing to "mitigate where possible before passing prices on to consumers".Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: