2 . Forty-year-old Hester Grainer estimates spending £300 to £400 each month on clothes, but returning around 80 percent. Actually, we’ve all done it. We buy something we think we like and then change our minds about it. We’re fortunate many companies allow us to easily exchange or refund items. It’s so easy these days that retailers (零售商) are seeing an increase in a new type of shopper: the serial returner.
In the last two years 26 percent of retailers have seen an increase in in-store and online returns—with the number of items being sent back up by 22 percent. It’s a problem for companies. Handling these returns eats into profits. Free delivery for the customer means the company foots the bill. Items may need to be repackaged. They are damaged—making them unfit for resale.
Tony Mannix, CEO of Clipper, a company that handles returned goods for major retailers, said about 5 percent of them end up “being binned”. Sometimes the fast fashion cycle has moved on. By the time the item comes back, it becomes a cut-price item on a reduced-to-clear rail—at further loss to the company.
Some companies are taking action. Four in ten retailers now say they charge for returns to discourage the sending of non-faulty items. Online retail giant Amazon was reported to have started banning customers with too many returned items. This is something, according to a study, over half of UK fashion retailers would consider. And a third of retailers have hiked their prices to cover these returns.
But Vicky Brock, director of data innovation at ReBound Returns, believes this isn’t the best strategy. She says discouraging returns shows a lack of understanding by the retailer. Using data, companies can reduce returns by helping customers choose better. Some companies such as Uniqlo and Asos already provide a suggested size based on the customer’s previous purchases and information on height and weight.
Ultimately, she says, returns are now as much a part of the shopping experience as buying things, and shops need to take this into consideration.
1. Serial returners refer to those who ________.
| A．are easily changing their minds when shopping |
| B．prefer to exchange purchases with other customers |
| C．buy items in large quantities but return most of them |
| D．are unable to resist the urge to buy whatever they like |
2. What usually happens to the returns according to Tony Mannix?
| A．Some returns fail to be sold at normal prices. |
| B．Customers are required to cover the returns. |
| C．Most of the returned goods are unfit for resale. |
| D．One fifth of returned items have to be repackaged. |
3. Which view would Vicky Brock agree with?
| A．Companies won’t profit from handling returns. |
| B．Raising prices to cover returns is a wise choice for shops. |
| C．Offering customers information can discourage returns. |
| D．Buying and returning are both necessary in shopping. |
