The Price of Fashion: Decoding Retail Policies Amidst Rising Supply Chain Costs
Rising supply chain costs are forcing fashion retailers to reconsider return policies that once defined their customer experience
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Key takeaways
Rising supply chain costs are forcing fashion retailers to reconsider return policies that once defined their customer experience
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Recently, fast fashion retailer H&M backtracked on a decision to charge its UK customers a small return fee on online purchases returned to its brick-and-mortar outlets. But the price of fashion is high, and recent trends like ‘try-and-return’ purchases have prompted several clothing brands to change their return policies. So, how do underlying supply chain factors like fuel and labor costs impact retail pricing and policies?
Travis Tokar, Ph.D., a Professor of Supply Chain Management at the Texas Christian University, offers insight into the ‘price of fashion’ that retailers like H&M navigate.
He explains, “I think that we could look at things like increased fuel and labor in the supply chain costs. That contributes to product as well being more expensive,” linking these elements to the decisions retailers make regarding customer policies.
Increased fuel and labor in the supply chain costs contributes to product as well being more expensive.— Travis Tokar, Ph.D., Professor of Supply Chain Management at Texas Christian University
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About the author
Travis Tokar is a Professor of Supply Chain Management in the Information Systems and Supply Chain Management Department at TCU, holding a PhD, MTLM, and BS/BA from the University of Arkansas. He specializes in behavioral issues in logistics, replenishment management, and business forecasting. Among his notable publications is the research on motivation framing in supply chain tasks and online shopper behaviors in response to shipping charges. Professor Tokar's expertise significantly influences current understandings of decision-making in supply chain management.
