Sizing returns in fashion ecom - is this actually as bad as people say?
Been going deep on apparel ecommerce ops lately and one thing keeps coming up in every conversation: return rates that would make any other industry flinch are just... normal here?
Talking to operators who treat 20 - 40% returns as a margin line item, not a problem to solve. Which is wild when you think about the actual cost stack - reverse logistics, warehouse receiving, customer support tickets, exchange friction. It adds up fast.
The part I'm most curious about is how much of this is genuinely sizing-related vs. other reasons. Because sizing feels like a different beast - it's not buyer's remorse, it's a real information gap that keeps repeating on the same SKUs.
A few things I'm trying to wrap my head around:
- What percentage of your returns are actually fit/sizing vs. everything else?
- How common is intentional multi-size ordering ("bracketing") among your customers?
- Are size charts or fit recommendation tools moving the needle at all, or mostly theater?
- Where does your return rate tip from "cost of doing business" to actually hurting the P&L?
Running a short anonymous survey for fashion ecom operators and D2C brands to get a clearer picture of how teams are actually handling this - not the polished version, the real one.
If you're in the space and willing to share: Survey Link
Will share anonymized findings back here once there's enough data to be useful.