4 ms·

My wife is probably single-highhandedly causing retailers that she favors to fail. I feel for them. She orders a ton of clothes online and then returns someth

My wife is probably single-highhandedly causing retailers that she favors to fail. I feel for them. She orders a ton of clothes online and then returns something around 75% of it. They give her free shipping and they take the returns in store at no cost. She prefers to order when there are sales. What she is doing is completely logical and encouraged by their policies but I do not understand how they make any money?

danepowell 8y ago
Clothing, especially designer or specialty / technical clothing, can be marked up 1-10x. In other words, a jacket that costs $10 to produce might sell for $20 or $100. Don't worry, they are still making money on your wife. (This is just based on my experience working for a major outdoor clothing retailer, not any sort of real data)
jschwartzi 8y ago
That's the online equivalent of what I do in store. Every brand has slightly different sizing so I often have to try on edgy brand of short until I find one or two that have sleeves and shoulders that fit. Many brands also use different collar styles. Then I look at different patterns and colors. The end result is that I might try on 5 or 6 things and walk out with one or none.
pavel_lishin 8y ago
Maybe the shipping costs plus the costs to manufacture the clothes she buys are less than what she pays for the clothes she keeps. Or maybe she's an outlier. Someone returning 75% of the clothing they buy because of a generous return policy is better than nobody buying anything from that retailer at all.
rb808 8y ago
Yeah I know people like that too. I think the stores prefer those customers to those who never return but rarely shop. https://www.fastcompany.com/1614648/zappos-best-customers-are-also-ones-who-return-most-orders https://www.fastcompany.com/1614648/zappos-best-customers-ar...
gowld 8y ago
The cost of shipping one item is almost the same as the cost of shipping a stack of items. As long as she's keeping a purchase, the additional cost of shipping+ partial return is small and baked into the pricing model.

danepowell 8y ago

Clothing, especially designer or specialty / technical clothing, can be marked up 1-10x. In other words, a jacket that costs $10 to produce might sell for $20 or $100. Don't worry, they are still making money on your wife. (This is just based on my experience working for a major outdoor clothing retailer, not any sort of real data)

jschwartzi 8y ago

That's the online equivalent of what I do in store. Every brand has slightly different sizing so I often have to try on edgy brand of short until I find one or two that have sleeves and shoulders that fit. Many brands also use different collar styles. Then I look at different patterns and colors. The end result is that I might try on 5 or 6 things and walk out with one or none.

pavel_lishin 8y ago

Maybe the shipping costs plus the costs to manufacture the clothes she buys are less than what she pays for the clothes she keeps. Or maybe she's an outlier. Someone returning 75% of the clothing they buy because of a generous return policy is better than nobody buying anything from that retailer at all.

rb808 8y ago

Yeah I know people like that too. I think the stores prefer those customers to those who never return but rarely shop. https://www.fastcompany.com/1614648/zappos-best-customers-are-also-ones-who-return-most-orders https://www.fastcompany.com/1614648/zappos-best-customers-ar...

gowld 8y ago

The cost of shipping one item is almost the same as the cost of shipping a stack of items. As long as she's keeping a purchase, the additional cost of shipping+ partial return is small and baked into the pricing model.