Warning, Order Ban: Zalando Revives Debate About returns
Zalando is taking increasingly firm steps to curb returns, a practice the company acknowledges as an “industry-wide problem.” following a reduction of the return window from 100 to 30 days in April, approximately 10,000 customer accounts were blocked due to excessive returns around April 10th. Zalando maintains this represents “only a very small part” of its roughly 50 million customers.
The new approach begins with “a warning by email” to customers exhibiting high return rates. Zalando states this “proactive step” aims to encourage customers to “reflect on and adapt their behavior before further measures are taken.”
More severe cases will result in restrictions on customer accounts, possibly culminating in a twelve-month order ban for customers with “permanently excessive return” behavior. Despite the ban, affected customers will retain access to their accounts to manage existing orders, initiate returns on previously purchased items, browse the app, and exercise their data protection rights.
Zalando highlighted both ecological obligation and economic factors in announcing the new rules, stating a desire to “offer a comfortable shopping experience that can be reconciled with our sustainability goals.” Returns are costly for online retailers, as noted by the online portal T3N. A recent Swiss government report echoed this, stating dealers “have their own interest in reducing returns.”
However,the effectiveness of these measures is being questioned. The newspaper “blick” expressed doubt, referencing a recent report on the destruction of returned goods in Switzerland.”Blick” reported approximately 15,000 articles are destroyed monthly in Switzerland due to cost considerations. Both Zalando and the destruction company denied this represented a meaningful portion of returned items.
A Zalando spokesperson told “Blick,” “Our goal is always to resell the articles.” They claim destruction is “only in exceptional cases,” with 98 percent of returned clothing being resold through Zalando or passed on to outlets and aid organizations.
Zalando also plans to leverage AI to offer better-fitting items initially, aiming to reduce the need for returns. Though, as noted by Inside Digital, the convenience of ordering multiple sizes and returning unwanted items remains a strong customer behavior, a trend Zalando itself may have encouraged with its long-standing slogan, “Show or send it.”
