• Boohoo is the latest company to charge customers for online returns.
• Products can now only be returned for £1.99 and the fee will be deducted from refunds.
• Other High Street stores including Uniqlo, Next and Zara already charge for returns.

The newest business to charge customers for returns is the fashion brand Boohoo.

Products can now only be returned for £1.99; the fee will be deducted from refunds. The change, which was initially mentioned by Retail Week, became official on July 4.

Boohoo attributed the relocation to the increase in delivery costs.

Online returns are already subject to fees at High Street stores including Uniqlo, Next, and Zara.

The pandemic saw a spike in internet shopping, but as customers are more likely to return things bought online than in-store, expenses for companies are going up.

Analysts predicted that other retailers would likely charge for returns in a similar fashion.

“Shoppers have had it easy, but that’s changing now; they’ll find there’s a price to pay for returns,” said Savvy Marketing CEO and retail expert Catherine Shuttleworth.

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“The costs for retailers have been mounting, both financially and environmentally… Retailers have therefore begun enforcing their return policies more strictly by limiting the number of days a customer can keep an item before expecting a return and, in certain circumstances, imposing a return fee,” she continued.

“We can anticipate this trend to continue, and [now] we’ve seen Boohoo implement it covertly. It’s a real deterrent to return something you purchase from Boohoo for £10 if you lose £2, or 20% of your investment.

During the pandemic, online shopping flourished and the quantity of returned goods increased significantly.

Returns can be expensive for fashion shops. It takes longer for warehouse personnel to process returned items, and companies frequently pay the expenses of online returns as a way to lure customers away from rivals.

Additionally, many consumers are growing more conscious of how delivery and returns affect the environment.

Boohoo said in May that increasing returns were partially to blame for a decline in its yearly profits.

According to the report, merchandise was returned by clients in the second part of the year more quickly than anticipated and at a higher rate than before the epidemic.

BoohooMan, Karen Millen, Nasty Gal, PrettyLittleThing, Coast, Misspap, Oasis, Warehouse, Burton, Wallis, Dorothy Perkins, and Debenhams are just a few of the brands owned by the company.

A Boohoo spokeswoman said: “As shipping costs have risen, we’ve had to consider where we can adjust without sacrificing what our consumers appreciate most, namely the ease of shopping with us and the excellent value that our brands provide.

Because of this, we will now charge £1.99 for returns in order to maintain our amazing prices and product selection while also operating more sustainably.

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