How bracketing became the latest challenge for online retailers

When it comes to online shopping, it’s tricky to know exactly what you’re buying. So what do you do when you’re on the fence about whether you should go for the red dress or the green for the holiday party, or when you’re not sure if you’re a large or an extra large? You order both, give them a try at home, and then return the other option. This common trend is known as bracketing, and it’s a killer for online retailers’ return numbers.

Although bracketing has occurred for many years in the apparel industry, it’s become a more common part of the online shopping world as a whole in recent years. This unique buying practice has become a significant challenge for e-commerce retailers, which create logistical headaches and cuts into profit margins. It also creates a more complicated buying experience, which can affect things like customer loyalty.

Before a retail brand can do anything to improve the situation, it helps to understand exactly what bracketing is and why it happens in the first place. Then, you can take steps to streamline the online shopping experience in a way that will help prevent excessive returns and other issues.

What is retailer bracketing?

Bracketing involves buying multiple sizes, colors, or variations of a product so that the buyer can try them all on and check them out with different style options at home—fully expecting to return most of their purchases. It’s the type of thing that people would do in a changing room in a physical store or boutique. 

This phenomenon is a growing trend in the world of online purchases, especially since e-commerce has become such a common way people shop for clothes and accessories. Online shops, especially those with free shipping, make it easy for customers to give things a try without leaving the house. 

From a customer perspective, bracketing sounds great. They can get a variety of pieces from online apparel retailers, put them together in different outfits at home, get their friends’ opinions, and simply return anything they don’t want. From a retail industry perspective, however, the higher return rate and all the difficulties that come with this practice can cause problems.

Bracketing has a considerable negative impact on retailers

A high volume of apparel returns affects almost every part of a retail brand’s operations. The increase in bracketing is reshaping the landscape for fashion retailers especially. Not only does it add many more tasks to the effort of selling a single piece of clothing, but it also comes with a significant cost to the business and the need for quick adaptation. Retailers feel the effects in ways that extend beyond the immediate transaction. It may even get in the way of a straight-line strategy for a positive customer experience and brand loyalty.

Inventory management challenges

Retailers have to deal with unpredictable stock levels when customers buy multiple items only to return most of them. The inventory fluctuations are difficult to track and can make it harder to replenish inventory or make room for new products when the seasons change. 

Unfortunately, it also comes with a lot of wasted inventory. Even if the shopper only tried on an item once, they may have stained, ripped, or otherwise ruined it for future sale. This means a negative impact on the environment—a big blow to retailers trying to boost their sustainability efforts. 

The logistics issue of unwanted items

Free shipping is only free for the consumer. The company who buys the products, warehouses them, and ships them to a physical storefront or the customer has to pay every step of the way. Obviously, the more you have to do this, the more it costs. Every off-line or online return ends up cutting into your brand’s profit margins.

From a supply chain and logistics perspective alone, bracketing makes things more complicated. Usually, you order an appropriate level of inventory for the season or a special event, put it up for sale, mail the pieces out to the buyers, and that would be that. With a constant flow of returns, this time sensitive process gets disrupted by processing small inbound shipments and restocking. 

It also takes a lot of time to examine each piece to make sure they are salable. If you miss something, you will just end up with an unsatisfied customer down the line. The more steps in the process, the higher risk of mistakes too.

Financial costs associated with bracketing

Inventory, shipping, employee time, and loss of product all make the financial costs associated with bracketing add up quickly. While you try to create the best customer experience possible, you end up having less money to spend on new product lines, shop upgrades, or clever marketing strategies. In the end, it’s simply impossible to believe that the increased customer demand and upfront sales will be enough to counteract all the costs associated with bracketing. 

Keep customers happy and minimize bracketing at the same time

According to a survey conducted earlier this year, a full 39% of shoppers admitted that they engaged in bracketing, or one of the more serious fraudulent activities, such as “wardrobing”, which means they bought an item, wore it for one occasion, and then returned it. When asked what would make them stop this shopping behavior, most admitted that it would take a complete ban from the store or being charged for returns.

Of course, online retailers want to prevent any of these things from happening. With the serious costs and extra work associated with bracketing, it makes sense to take steps to maximize customer satisfaction during the product selection process. These steps will make the shopping experience more rewarding and accurate and remove many of the return reasons.

Use detailed product descriptions

It’s easier for shoppers to decide on a particular piece if you have detailed product descriptions. Always include precise measurements, details about the fabric, high resolution images from multiple sides, and any specifics about embellishments or unique designs. Keep things clear and easy to read, but don’t skimp on information the customer needs to feel confident in their buying decisions.

Offer virtual try-on augmented reality tools

Bracketing happens because people want to try on a lot of pieces before they decide which one is right for them. Imagine if they had the opportunity to try things on while sitting behind their computer or swiping on their phone. AR virtual fitting room programs allow them to see what the piece would look like on them and make a better choice from the start.

Make personalized recommendations

Knowing your customers’ interests, perfect size, and tastes help retail employees give the type of personal product suggestions that reduce the rate of returns. This is only possible if you collect data and analyze it carefully to your customer relationship management portal. Then, you can set up a system where each person gets exactly what they want or something perfect for their next purchase.

Enhance pre-and post-sale customer support

The more you serve your customers before they buy something, the more likely they are to be satisfied with what they get. A lot of this comes down to the type of personalization mentioned above. However, post-sale support is equally important. Reach out to buyers and make sure they know that they can ask questions. Also, it helps to make your return policy crystal clear and stress that you prefer to do everything possible to make a successful sale the first time.

Conclusion 

Returns are bound to happen, especially for online retailers. And solutions to problems like bracketing aren’t going to appear overnight. But through consistent efforts in offering clear product information, a clear line of communication, and exceptional pre- and post-sale customer support, you and your customers can both come out on top. Clientbook is a sales assistant software built to make communicating with customers easy—no matter when or where they shop. Book a demo today to see how Clientbook can help you master your customer communication.