This year's "Double 11" has entered a "crazy countdown", and the clothing brand Ralph Lauren, known for its "old money style", is suspected to have become a "tool for collecting orders" leading to a "high return rate" and subsequently trending on Weibo.
According to the comprehensive report on China Youth Daily's WeChat official account, recently, the luxury brand's GMV (total merchandise transactions) on a platform "Double 11" exceeded 1.6 billion yuan, but the return rate reached an astonishing 95%. This phenomenon stems from consumers adding products from the brand in order to enjoy full discounts. Once the discount is obtained, these products will be returned to the merchant in a "seven day no reason refund" manner.
On November 11th, regarding the authenticity of this news, the customer service of Ralph Lauren Tmall official flagship store replied to the Daily Economic News reporter that the customer service does not have this relevant information at the moment. Regarding whether the return rate will affect normal shipping, the customer service of Ralph Lauren Tmall official flagship store said, "The warehouse will ship within 48 hours after you make the payment
A relevant person told the Daily Economic News reporter that the data that the return rate of Ralph Lauren Tmall store reaches 95% is not true.
Ralph Lauren's' empty joy '?
For e-commerce platforms, issuing consumption vouchers is a common means of promotion, and for consumers, it is also a common practice to make purchases in order to enjoy discounts.
On October 12th, Tmall announced that it will invest an additional 30 billion yuan in consumer coupons and red envelopes on top of the existing discounts or cross store full discounts. On November 11th, by clicking on the "88VIP" page of the Taobao app, you can also see that 88VIP members can receive a 400 yuan exclusive consumption voucher for paying 5000 yuan, and a 120 yuan consumption voucher for paying over 1500 yuan.
Cheng Weixiong, founder of Shanghai Liangqi Brand Management Co., Ltd., told the Daily Economic News reporter that similar incidents should not have a negative impact on the brand. Ralph Lauren has a relatively higher price compared to Chinese online small and medium-sized product brands, and online sales consumers are more concerned about price. Tmall's bulk order for Ralph Lauren has a higher value, and returns can be made after the bulk order meets promotional conditions
Cheng Weixiong believes that for consumers, meeting promotional discounts is the biggest benefit, and a high return rate is a "hollow joy" for Ralph Lauren.
Zhuang Shuai, the founder of Bailian Consulting, told the Daily Economic News reporter that for brands, becoming a "tool for collecting orders" can easily lead to out of stock and affect consumers' shopping experience.
According to the news released by Tmall on November 1st, as of that day, a total of 373 brands have sold over 100 million yuan. Since the pre-sale started on October 14th, as of 24:00 on October 31st, the number of 88VIP members placing orders and purchasing has increased by over 60% compared to the same period last year, the per capita purchase amount has increased by over 30% year-on-year, and the number of 88VIP member visits has increased by 50% year-on-year. In addition, more than half of the sales of top brands on Tmall during this year's "Double 11" were contributed by 88VIP.
E-commerce platforms have taken measures to address' high return rates'
It is worth mentioning that even without unexpected situations such as "being bundled", the high return rate of clothing and other product categories has been a problem for merchants in recent years. Since "refund only" became a standard feature on e-commerce platforms, the conflict between buyers and sellers has intensified for a period of time.
Regarding the issue of high return rates among clothing merchants, in November, Mi Lan, the general manager of Tmall Clothing, also stated in an interview with "Tianxia Online Business": "We have noticed this problem since the '618' shopping festival. We conducted research on why merchants want to return goods, what problems merchants face in returning goods, and how we can reasonably reduce the return rate. In the end, our clothing industry led the establishment of a return special project
Milan believes that there are several core issues with consumer returns: firstly, the inability to purchase the appropriate size, especially for some international brands where size is a pain point for consumers and can easily lead to returns; The second is the lack of quality assurance; The third is multi platform price comparison, where consumers return goods when they see better prices on other platforms.
The reporter learned that the platform has taken certain measures to protect the rights and interests of merchants. On July 26th, Taobao announced that it will optimize its "refund only" strategy and enhance merchants' after-sales autonomy based on the new experience score.
In September this year, the reporter learned from Taotian that Taobao's new service "Return Treasure" for return and exchange scenarios has once again experienced a systematic price reduction. This round of price reduction will continue from September 27th until the end of "Double 11", and some merchants can see a maximum reduction of 58%.
It is reported that "Return Treasure" is a service launched by Taobao in early September for all Taobao and Tmall merchants. According to Taobao's calculations, after the launch of "Return Treasure", it is expected to reduce the cost scale for merchants by at least 2 billion yuan for the whole year, and the comprehensive average reduction for merchants will reach 20%. On the eve of Double 11, in order to alleviate the pressure of merchants returning and exchanging goods during the big promotion period, Taobao further reduced the service fee of Return Treasure on the basis of the previous one, with the reduction concentrated at more than 40%.
In fact, in recent years, the issue of "reducing excess orders" and its impact have received public attention multiple times. Platforms and merchants should pay attention to the problems that have already been exposed and strive to find better solutions. In the long run, platforms, merchants, and consumers all need to seek balance and achieve win-win outcomes in promotional activities.