Commentary

Why it's time to get online sizing accurate

Ronen Luzon, CEO of My Size, believes it's time to solve one of the biggest pain points for retailers and consumers -- getting online sizing to work and work well.

Photo by iStock.com

March 28, 2019

By Ronen Luzon, CEO, My Size

Stop me if you've had this problem before. You're doing some online shopping and have found a shirt or dress that is perfect. You even pay for expedited shipping because you can't wait to wear it and show it off to all of your friends. The day finally comes, and the box arrives but there's one major problem — it doesn't fit.

Welcome to online retail's most prevalent problem — returns. The lack of a true sizing system results in buyer confusion, and often, the ordering of an ill-fitting item. Then it's the retailer left to pick up the tab for the cost of return shipping, as well as resending a new item if it's required.

Returns in online retail have become a costly issue for brands. Nearly 20 to 30 percent of online apparel orders are being returned (with 70 percent of those returns due to problems with fit), costing the retailer anywhere from $3 to $12 per order. One study cites total expenses to e-retailers from apparel returns at $1.4 billion dollars, roughly 2.5 percent of the total online revenue ($60B) of apparel and accessories in 2015.

Returns have become such an expensive issue we've begun to see legacy retailers change decades old return policies in order to cut costs. For the last 100 years, L.L Bean had accepted returns of basically any item, purchased at any time, with or without a receipt. But over the last five years, the company reported losing $250 million worth of returned items that could not be resold.

For as much money companies are making by shipping merchandise out to consumers, they're losing a huge chunk when it comes back in.

Fix the sizing issue

Probably the easiest ways to quell returns is to fix the overarching issue related to product sizing. Despite best efforts across the industry, there is no universal system that drops everyone into a guaranteed bucket for size. Where some retailers sell pants by waist and length, others tag them as small, medium, or large, and there is no consistency across brand.

Fortunately, there is technology that would allow consumers to take their true measurements utilizing a mobile device, which would then sync directly to a retailer's sizing chart and only show the consumer items in a size that correspond to their exact measurements. This ensures a true fit and a correct purchase each and every time

There are other technologies on the market that guestimate size based off of photos, or ask you to enter what you think your measurements are so they can recommend what will fit you best. There is also 3D scanning, virtual try-on, and other big data methods.

But this much is clear — the sizing and return issue has created a sizeable market opportunity for technology companies that can provide a solution that would enable retailers to recoup these losses. As innovation continues, we should see retailers trying out these various solutions as a way to increase customer experience while also improving their own bottom line.