Asos will block serial returners

Asos is done with online shoppers who turn out to be serial returners. The UK fashion retailer doesn’t want customers who wear their purchases and then return them, or customers who order and return way more items than ‘the most loyal Asos customer’ would order’. Asos is now threatening to deactivate these accounts.

Asos is not the first major fashion retailer who’s changing their return policy. Earlier this year, Zalando started a trial in which it would attach very big clothing labels to items, so it would be harder to ‘wear and return’, a popular thing to do among some fashion shoppers across Europe. That label reads: “Dear customer, feel free to fit this article and try it, but if this label is removed, it will not to be accepted as a return by Zalando.”

Asos wants to keep returns sustainable

And now Asos is doing something similar. In an email sent to its customers, the company explains it wants to make sure their returns remain sustainable “for us and for the environment”. So, if they notice an usual return patterns, they might investigate it further and take actions.

‘We might have to deactivate the account’

“If we notice an unusual pattern of returns activity that doesn’t sit right: e.g. we suspect someone is actually wearing their purchases and then returning them or ordering and returning loads – way, waaay more than even the most loyal ASOS customer would order – then we might have to deactivate the account and any associated accounts.”, the company mails.