Retail giant H&M is now among the retail stores that charge customers for returning their online purchases. The move aims to reduce the carbon emissions and decrease the negative environmental impact of mass returns.
Retailers Add Charge for Online Returns
Aside from H&M, fashion retailers Zara and Uniqlo have already started to charge shoppers for their online returns. H&M initially tested the new policy last year in the United States, now the company extended the implementation to the United Kingdom.
UK shoppers will now be charged by $2.47 (£1.99) fee for each returned parcel. The charge is considerably small compared to the US costumers who are paying $5.99 for return fee. However, H&M advised that the fee will not be charge if the item is found to be "faulty or incorrect."
"It all depends on how it's received by the customer. So that's why we do a test to see if that is something to fast track," H&M's CEO Helena Helmersson explained as reported by CNN last year.
H&M Cuts Back on Carbon Emission
By putting an extra charge, H&M hopes that this would gradually decrease the amount of carbon emissions that mass returns produce. The Guardian reported that carbon emissions increased to 24 million metric tons from 2019 to 2022, with almost half of it were produced by returning clothes that were purchased online.
Moreover, the handling of returns has proven to be costly for the companies as delivery and labor increases. Additionally, energy and petrol prices are also increasing.
Meanwhile, retail experts agreed with move from the retailers citing that this might be the key to discourage bulk buying online products. Moreover, this could potentially change the landscape for returning online purchase as other retailers are expected to follow the suit.
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