Moss bros, THG and Mountain Warehouse are latest to charge for returns

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Jan 4, 2023

Growing costs have seen yet more retailers starting to charge consumers to return goods purchased online. The latest include Moss Bros, Mountain Warehouse and beauty retail group THG.

They join fashion giants Zara, Boohoo, Next, Uniqlo and Mango who all introduced charges last year and more companies are expected to follow suit, particularly in fashion, where there has been an increase in returns rates.

The Telegraph reported menswear giant Moss Bros saying it had brought in a fee after a review of the wider market. Its customers can opt for a free Royal Mail service or pay £2.99 for a courier to pick up the item.

THG, which owns Lookfantasic, now charges its customers £2.99 per order for returns, while Mountain Warehouse has brought in a £2 fee.

Mountain Warehouse’s founder Mark Neale told The Telegraph that the "modest" fee is due to the rising cost of collecting and processing returns.

This winter, returns are already proving to be an even bigger issue than usual with the post-Christmas returns ‘season’ suffering from massive delivery disruptions with £1.5 billion of orders now being returned as thousands of gifts missed the Christmas Day deadline.

That continued a returns deluge post-Black Friday. The shopping event may have been a big one this year, but ReBound, which works with major retailers including ASOS, River Island and Crocs, said in early December that November returns were 26.6% higher than a year ago.