Goodbye to free returns from home: what the Inditex measure hides and what

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Online returns of Inditex products in Spain are no longer free . As reflected on the different Zara , Massimo Dutti or Bershka websites , returns made from the buyer's home have a cost of 1.95 euros from February 1, 2023 , which will be deducted from the refunded amount. Returns that take place in the store or at a delivery point will continue to be free, and the period, in any case, remains 30 days from the date of shipment. Unlike other measures - which are tested first in Spain and then taken to the rest of the markets - this strategy began in May of last year in dozens of countries where the group operates. Now he arrives in his country of origin. In September, when the measure had already been implemented, Óscar García Maceiras, CEO of the textile giant, explained that the decision had not had an “impact” on customers. “The measure has a double positive effect: the number of returns in stores has grown and the period in which customers make that return is now shorter,” he explained at the time.

The underlying problems behind returns The president of the Spanish Retail Association, Laureano Turienzo, explained a few months ago to Business Insider Spain that "digital sales base their business model on photographs and the dopamine of fast delivery." Hence, the very foundation of the returns. Inditex's decision, still shy of much of its rivals, seeks to minimize the costs generated by the excess of free returns on online orders, which can put the profitability Asia Phone Number List of the operation at risk. The free returns had its reason in that the growth of their online sales skyrocketed and therefore, so did the returns. The pandemic, in fact, elevated the digital channels of the textile giants ; Inditex added 6,612 million euros in 2020 and H&M exceeded 5,100 million. Far, in any case, from the more than 63,500 million yuan (9,715 million euros), which is estimated to have been generated by the unknown giant that remains Shein . Nor is the environmental problem generated by the normalization of returns minor and that the great giants of the sector - such as Inditex or Amazon - have encouraged by transforming homes into fitting rooms.

It is a great delay because all these goods are moving through the cities without providing any value, with the consequent greenhouse gas emissions that affect our health and climate change," reflected the executive director of the Slow Fashion Next platform. , Gema Gómez. However, the legislative situation now seems to push for change. The European Union has the firm intention that fast fashion will cease to be fast fashion by 2030. The roadmap focuses its purpose on improving the circularity of garments and returns have a full impact on the sustainability strategies of companies in the sector, immersed in this obligatory process of transformation. When companies turned homes into stores: why the normalization of returns encouraged by Amazon or Inditex represents an unprecedented economic and environmental problem What are the rest of the rivals doing? H&M Spain Reuters The Swedish H&M.