Clothing and footwear account for a whopping 46% of returns, which, while a convenient option for consumers, is a growing trend that has a significant impact on the environment. Could AR-enabled personalization be the answer? Matthew Klimpke, CEO and co-founder of Vyking.io, comments.
The returns industry is booming. They are happening faster, more frequently and, thanks to technological advances, are easier than ever for the consumer to complete.
A recent Narvar report found that 26% of surveyed shoppers had returned more than four items in the past six months, with clothing and footwear accounting for 46% of recent returns.
It also found that in 2021, the value of merchandise returned to retailers grew 78% over the prior year, with “fit and size” being noted as the top reason for returns for the sixth consecutive year.
While providing a seamless returns experience offers retailers the opportunity to reconnect with customers and build trust and loyalty, the process is not only challenging for retailers operationally and financially, it also affects industry sustainability.
Every time a product is shipped, energy and resources are required to transport it. Returning a product means it is shipped twice, which increases your carbon footprint and contributes to your overall environmental impact.
Additionally, when a product is returned, it must be processed, repackaged, and possibly restocked, which requires a significant amount of energy and resources. There are also cases where returned products cannot be resold and are therefore thrown away, contributing to the growing problem of waste and environmental degradation.
In addition to these sustainability issues, returns that cannot be resold or sold at full price also result in lost revenue for the retailer and can hurt the broader economy.
In fact, the National Retail Federation Annual Returns Survey discovered that for each $1 billion in gross sales, the typical retailer incurs $166 million in returns, whereas for each $100 in returned merchandise accepted, retailers lose $10.30 to return fraud.
So what could be carried out to assist scale back return charges?
The truth that match and measurement proceed to be cited as the highest cause for returns, each with new and dependable prospects, means that retailers may benefit from Augmented Actuality (AR) and match expertise.
AR digital try-on options are already beginning to change the sport within the attire and footwear trade. The normal trend procuring expertise is commonly time consuming and it may be difficult for purchasers to visualise how a product will look on them.
AR, nonetheless, provides prospects a extra correct illustration of how an merchandise will look on them, permitting them to expertise clothes and niknaks in an interactive and customized means earlier than making a purchase order.
By making extra knowledgeable purchases, not solely is there the potential to enhance sustainability within the trend trade by lowering return charges, however a greater buyer expertise will also be created.
By offering an immersive procuring expertise, along with with the ability to see what a product will appear like on them in actual time, prospects may also share their digital try-on expertise with family and friends, making the procuring expertise extra social and interesting.
From a retailer perspective: With everybody’s budgets feeling the pinch, it is extra essential now than ever for e-commerce and advertising methods to work more durable and smarter, and with the ability to assist customers higher visualize merchandise is a Nice approach to set your self aside within the ultra-competitive trend trade. .
We have already seen different marketplaces use it efficiently: furnishings manufacturers like Ikea and Made.com use AR expertise to approximate what their merchandise would appear like in your house, Etsy has used it with artwork, Clarins with make-up, and we’re additionally seeing corporations like Below Armor implement AR in B2B purposes to optimize gross sales to distributors and retailers.
As expertise continues to evolve and the prices of manufacturing 3D content material are additional lowered, we are able to count on to see increasingly trend and footwear companies observe swimsuit. Cartier, for instance, has already adopted in-store gadgets that characterize items of knickknack in your palms, whereas IWC Schaffhausen has examined AR for watches.
Particularly within the discipline of footwear, Vyking.io’s space of experience, reviews present that digital try-on expertise is seeing the identical success as different verticals.
Following in Vyking’s footsteps, Amazon and Snapchat additionally lately launched VTO for sneakers, with Snap reporting as much as 94% conversion improve from shoe campaigns on their platform.
Combining elevated buyer engagement and buy conversion, plus decrease return charges for a extra sustainable retail surroundings, AR expertise is the perfect funding for trend and footwear manufacturers seeking to put together their enterprise for the longer term. future and improve its environmental credentials.
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Can AR-Enabled Personalisation Improve Sustainability in the Fashion Industry?
