Australian businesses scale back free shipping and returns, risking customer backlash
Many of us have embraced the convenience of online shopping, with offers like free shipping and free returns making it even more appealing. However, businesses are now scaling back these incentives to save costs, which could lead to a customer backlash.
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00:00Workers at this online lingerie retailer are packaging up hundreds of orders a day.
00:10Free shipping over $99 and otherwise it's $8.99 which is less than it costs us.
00:15But Curvy is now upping these costs as its own margins fall and delivery costs rise.
00:22Why can't you just give me free shipping on everything?
00:24With Australia Post rising their prices significantly, particularly recently, we don't have the margins
00:31to do that.
00:32Australia Post says its prices are competitive.
00:35Other retailers like the iconic David Jones, Kogan and Chemist Warehouse have also upped
00:41delivery thresholds in recent times.
00:44A lot of retailers have found how unsustainable it is to give away everything for nothing.
00:50Data from the tech company shows that fewer retailers are offering free shipping, with
00:54the number down 11% from five years ago.
00:58The average shipping cost has risen to more than $10.
01:02And retailers are now telling customers it'll take almost six days to get them an order.
01:08Shippets data also shows that retailers like ASOS are ending free returns.
01:14The challenge for a lot of retailers is if you've offered free returns, can I take it
01:20away?
01:21And as soon as you take it away, your sales drop.
01:24Environmental advocates say this might actually be a good thing because free returns have
01:28been incentivising us to buy stuff we don't necessarily know we want and then return it.
01:34Curvy only offers free returns on faulty products and sometimes they don't always get back their
01:41own product.
01:42What's the weirdest return you've ever had?
01:44We've definitely had scissors, light bulbs.
01:47Delivering a shock in the mail for retailers.