ASOS has discovered itself on the centre of a brand new wave of buyer backlash after it started closing accounts of consumers with excessive return charges – a transfer critics say dangers alienating the loyal customers it will depend on.
In current days, customers have taken to social media to specific confusion and frustration after receiving emails from the web trend large, informing them that their accounts have been shut down for behaviour deemed to breach its Honest Use coverage.
One such shopper was Rhea Sangha, Senior Advertising Supervisor at John Lewis and a self‑professed ASOS loyalist. Sharing her expertise on LinkedIn, Sangha described feeling “gobsmacked” after being knowledgeable of the account closure.
She mentioned: “I’m a die‑exhausting, loyal ASOS fan and have been a daily buyer for years. It’s my go‑to for holidays, weddings, events – and I bloody love Topshop!”
Sangha acknowledged making frequent returns however argued that that is merely the fact of on-line trend purchasing, significantly for curvier clients. She added: “Garments sadly don’t match me like a glove… I spend a whole lot of kilos a yr with ASOS. Is that this actually how retailers must be treating their greatest clients?”
Commenting on the account closures, an ASOS spokesperson mentioned: “We not too long ago closed the accounts of a small group of consumers whose purchasing exercise has constantly fallen exterior our Honest Use coverage. This helps us keep our dedication to providing free returns to all clients throughout all core markets.”
The most recent fallout follows ASOS’s controversial transfer in September 2024 to introduce a £3.95 returns price for patrons with “often excessive return charges”, aiming to mitigate rising return charges and related prices. On the time, the retailer emphasised that the price would apply solely to a small group of UK customers, with the bulk nonetheless having fun with free returns – significantly ASOS Premier members who stored at the least £40 of their orders.
Nonetheless, the dearth of transparency about what qualifies as “excessive returns” and the seemingly arbitrary nature of enforcement have left a bitter style for some.
The rising pressure underscores the fragile stability trend retailers should keep between decreasing losses from extreme returns and preserving the comfort and suppleness shoppers count on from e-commerce. ASOS just isn’t alone on this problem.
PrettyLittleThing confronted backlash after deactivating buyer accounts as a consequence of excessive return volumes. It got here shortly after PLT launched a £1.99 price for returns in June 2024.
In 2023, H&M launched the same coverage. Nevertheless, the retailer shortly backtracked after dealing with related criticism. ZARA launched on-line return charges in 2022, however that led to infinite queues at its in-store return counters come mid-week lunch breaks.
As Amal Ahmed, Director of Monetary Companies and EMEA Advertising at Signifyd, mentioned on the time: “Penalising clients for top return charges can hurt model fame and buyer loyalty. Retailers want a extra nuanced, data-driven strategy.”
Within the fiercely aggressive on-line trend trade, the place buyer loyalty is more and more tough to safe, the stakes are excessive. For ASOS, the vital query is whether or not short-term operational positive factors justify the potential long-term harm to buyer loyalty.
