Lee Thompson, CEO at fulfilmentcrowd – a global fulfilment provider that supports high-growth, omnichannel brands – shared his thoughts in response to this news: “ASOS’ recent announcement to change its returns policy yet again is a strong signal that retailers are getting serious about tackling the growing strain of excessive returns. The cost of processing and managing returns has risen sharply in recent years, and this decision is a clear attempt to protect both profitability and operational efficiency. It also reflects a wider shift across the fashion and eCommerce sectors towards creating a more sustainable and manageable returns culture. We expect to see more retailers adopting similar measures as the industry grapples with this challenge.”
Katie Shepherd, Head of Marketing at fulfilmentcrowd, added: “ASOS is moving from behind-the-scenes enforcement to proactive transparency — putting a shopper’s returns rate in-app and giving people the chance to change behaviour before they’re penalised. This is a shift towards tiered, data-led policies rather than blanket account bans”.
The update lands as the fashion sector enters peak ‘returns season’, with fulfilmentcrowd data showing returns volumes surged in mid-January last year, reaching as high as eight times the daily average during peak periods (the quantity of returns processed on 17th January 2025 was a 700% increase when compared to the daily average between 1st November 2024 and 31st January 2025).
Paul Taylor, Chief Operations Officer at fulfilmentcrowd, continued with some tips that may help ASOS customers avoid future account closures: “Making sure you understand their returns policy and ordering with care is the best way to stay onside and continue enjoying a seamless online shopping experience. Shoppers should also adopt a more mindful approach to online ordering; this means checking size guides, reading reviews, and only ordering items you genuinely intend to keep.”
From a recent survey of 1,002 UK shoppers investigating the evolving issue of ‘bracketing’ (when customers order multiple sizes or colours of the same product, intending to keep only one and return the rest), fulfilmentcrowd found that the majority (62%) have or would bracket in some capacity when it comes to purchasing fashion items online. For those that have (or would) bracket, the research delved into the types of doing so, with the most common way to bracket being purchasing multiple sizes of particular product (40% of those who bracket). Buying multiple colours of a particular product (35% of those who bracket), multiple styles of a product type/category (24% of those who bracket), and varying price points of a product type/category (11% of those who bracket) also featured.
