Minimum order value and return costs
These changes await us when shopping online
Online shopping as we know it was a thing of the past. Now we have to calculate with minimum order value.
© Karolina Grabowska / Pexels
“Scream with happiness” was once. Zalando is introducing a minimum order value across Europe, Zara and Uniqlo are now charging a return fee – BRIGITTE explains what major changes we can expect from online shopping in the future.
Almost every one of us has ordered clothes online at some point, but very few can claim that every product actually ends up in our closet. A total of around 315 million parcels are on the road in Germany every year – to return goods ordered online! That’s too much, according to many large fashion groups. For the sake of the environment, they put a damper on excessive shopping. With a new minimum order value, return costs and the like, consumption should be kept low in the future and waste and carbon dioxide reduced. What does this mean in concrete terms for online retail? We broke it down.
Zalando introduces minimum order value
minimum order value? Most people only know this from ordering food. But now, even in the fashion sector, a certain sum should first be collected in the shopping cart before the credit card starts to glow and the goods travel kilometers by plane or van and are delivered to the door. Zalando is now regarded as a pioneer in this procedure, but it’s actually not entirely new: In some European countries, Zalando’s shipping costs have been common practice for several years. Now this is also the case in Germany. In the future, standard shipping will only be free for orders with a minimum order value of EUR 24.90. If this is not reached, the standard delivery fee is now EUR 4.90.
Online shopping will change in the future.
© cottonbro / Pexels
Zara and Uniqlo abolish free returns
Zara is now also putting a damper on the shopping fun and is now charging a fee for returns. On its website, the Spanish retailer explains: “The cost of the return is €1.95 per package and will be deducted immediately from the amount due to you before the refund.” Big hauls for TikTok and Co. are passé for some. Because Zara is not the only brand that is suddenly charging its buyers for returns. The Japanese brand Uniqlo even charges a good one euro more for returned parts at 2.95 euros per returned shipment. Is this now becoming the norm across the board? Experts assume: yes.
This is how online trading will change in the future
According to a spokesman for the Federal Association of E-Commerce and Mail Order (BEVH), Zara and Uniqlo will soon no longer be isolated cases: “We expect an end to free returns, which have been common practice up to now and which customers also expect”. However, it has not yet been confirmed whether and in what way other major players in online retail will join.
Sources used: tagesschau.de, businessinsider.de