An online retailer is allowing customers to try on clothes when they arrive at their home and give them back to the courier straight away if they don’t fit.
JeansOnline, a company based in the Netherlands, is offering an “Easy Fit & Return” service where the courier who delivers their pair of jeans waits at the customer’s door for 15 minutes while they try it on.
If the item doesn’t fit, customers are able to hand the item back and get an automatic refund. The delivery fee for this new service costs almost 10 Euros (around $15), but is free for orders over 250 Euros ($375).
Paul Greenberg, chairman of the National Online Retailers’ Association, says having an option for the courier to wait at your door is a “great idea”.
“As retailers we have to try different things,” he told SmartCompany. “We have to be inventive, creative, brave and bold.”
JeansOnline is using the “Easy Fit & Return” service to address the perception that a major drawback to online shopping is the customer can’t try on a piece of clothing before they purchase it. Greenberg says this sort of hesitation is still around today.
“I think the resistance barriers are dropping but they’re still there,” he said. “The sweet spot for new retail is the intersection between the physical and digital. By doing this what the online retailer is saying is they’ll meet the online customer physically and that is really clever.”
Online retailers can also spend a significant amount of time, and therefore money, processing returns and offering refunds.
Greenberg says attention to detail and little perks can go a long way to creating customer loyalty, which in turn drives sales.
“For that new customer, this is a terrific way to get warm [to the idea of shopping online]. Once the customer is comfortable you’ll find that level of connectivity or interaction will increase.”
As for whether or not the concept will kick off in Australia, Greenberg says we’ll have to wait and see. With such a large country and relatively small population in comparison, delivery in Australia has “never been an easy nut to crack”.
“But regardless of whether or not it works, 10 out of 10 for trying,” said Greenberg. “We mustn’t forget that retail is at its core customer-centric. If we lose that passion a candle will go out.”
Broede Carmody is a former senior SmartCompany reporter. Before this, he was a co-editor of RMIT University’s student magazine Catalyst.
