Online retailers feel the pinch of accelerated consumer returns

Accelerated returns of goods purchased online, supply chain pressures, and soaring freight costs continue to squeeze profit margins in the fast fashion sector.

Online retail was initially one of the pandemic-era industry winners, as periodic lockdowns accelerated e-commerce sales. But time seems to have caught up with the sector’s meteoric growth. Rising prices, from input costs to labour, wage and fuel inflation, the impact of China’s Covid Zero policy on exports, supply chain bottlenecks on inventory levels and surging transport costs have all cramped revenues and profitability.

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