Chinese online shoppers are super fickle: Luxury e-commerce platforms in China were hit by high return volumes on orders made via Alibaba’s Tmall luxury e-commerce platform back in November during China’s largest online shopping festival, Bloomberg reports, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Burberry and Net-A-Porter saw up to 75% of their sales disappear within days as buyers canceled and returned shipments. Return rates continued to increase in 1Q 2024, with Tmall return and cancellation rates for Brunello Cucinelli spiked 10 percentage points y-o-y and Marc Jacobs increased 13 percentage points.

Above the global average: The rate of returns in China far outstrips the 20-30% global averages, according to consulting firm Sanford C. Bernstein, with the trend ramping up since China reopened last year following the pandemic. This has caused some brands to reassess their strategies for China, with some choosing to double down on courting wealthier clients.

Tags: