Does not fit

Online shopping: every tenth purchase is returned

Online purchases are most frequently returned because the size of the product did not fit.

(Bild: APA/dpa/Uwe Anspach)

The jeans too small, the vase too big, the curtains too long: online shoppers don't always keep what was delivered. On average, online shoppers return eleven percent of their purchases. Only a quarter (24%) never return goods purchased online. This is the result of a survey of 1050 online shoppers aged 16 and over commissioned by the German digital association Bitkom.

According to the survey, men return a significantly smaller proportion (9 percent) than women (14 percent). Returns are also more common among younger people than older people: People aged between 16 and 29 return an average of 15 percent, compared to 13 percent among 30 to 49-year-olds, ten percent among 50 to 64-year-olds and only seven percent in the 65+ age group.

A wide variety of reasons for returns
Doesn't fit, doesn't suit or doesn't live up to its promise: customers who return goods ordered online do so for a wide variety of reasons. Online purchases are most frequently returned because the size of the product, for example clothing or furniture, did not fit: Two thirds (67 percent) cite this as the reason for returns.

For 56 percent, a product was faulty or damaged, and 50 percent simply did not like the product. For 41 percent, the product did not match the picture or description online and for 37 percent, it appeared to be poorly made.

Planned from the start
Three in ten (29%) have already initiated a return because the wrong item was delivered. Just as many planned a return from the outset: 29% have deliberately ordered more than they actually needed, for example clothing in different sizes. 

14% have already returned products that they ordered incorrectly by mistake, while 13% have had the product delivered later than required. In each case, nine percent have not needed the product after all or have discovered a better offer and have therefore returned goods ordered online. Three percent returned items that they had only ordered to view.

"Every time goods are sent back and forth, resources are consumed - in terms of sustainability, the aim must be to reduce returns to a minimum. Ultimately, this is also in the interests of retailers, who save costs and effort in logistics - and this in turn benefits consumers through lower prices overall," commented Dr. Bernhard Rohleder, Bitkom CEO, on the results.