As the grim fate of returned online purchases are exposed to the public, the world of fashion is looking particularly problematic. According to the CEO Agenda — an outline of 8 sustainability priorities for leaders of the fashion industry — 73% of the world’s clothing eventually end up in landfills. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2017)…
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True story – fake name! Rebecca ordered a unicorn costume for her daughter for Halloween well in advance from a popular online retailer. When it didn’t arrive three days before the big day, she began to get nervous. When it didn’t arrive two days before she went into a flat panic, and express-ordered a new…
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In OtailO, we believe that online product returns should always be returned forwards and never backwards. Accordingly, we believe that instead of reflecting backwards, we should reflect forwards on the good things to come. To our new team members To our pilot partners To our investors To creating a huge impact on sustainability in the…
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So here it is. I’ve made several purchases over the past few hours from different online stores. It’s exciting, exhilarating and fun. There’s nothing like retail therapy. However, let’s be honest, there’s a whole other “dark” side to online purchases. Another player for whom these sales are like double-edged swords: on the one end a…
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Over the past few years there have been so many decriers and prophets foreseeing the steady decline of brick-and-mortar facilities. And while it is true that retail statistics show a decline in foot traffic, over 80% of retail purchases are still made in offline stores, and retailers that have omni-channel options are seen as having…
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France is rising up as a leader in changing the cruel fate of unsold products. So far she stands alone. It is estimated that in France 650 million Euro’s worth of unsold non-food items are eliminated every year. This is by no means a localised issue, we are talking about a global challenge of massive…
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True story – fake name! Jake ordered a new shirt from a well-known online retailer. When the shirt arrived, unfortunately it was too small. Jake initiated the return process. Much to his surprise the online retailer responded with a simple but clear message: “send a picture of yourself destroying the shirt, once you have done…
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If I buy a shirt from a physical store — say the local boutique in my town — and I regret my purchase and return it to the store the next day without ever having worn it, is the item resold as new or “refurbished”? I think most of us assume that the returned item…
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In a recent survey conducted by Censuswide for the charity Barnardo’s, it said that Britons will buy £700m worth of new clothing to be worn over their vacation trips and never again. In the States, on average an item will be worn 7-10 times before it is tossed out. The decision how many times to…
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There’s this crazy race happening out there. The race is taking place simultaneously by land, sea and air. It involves: thousands of facilities tens of thousands of hands hundreds of thousands of hours and tons of fuels, millions of packaging-related items hundreds of billions of dollars (These numbers are probably on the low end.) The…
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