A recent eMarketer Retail story about the impact of consumer returns on retailers in the US and UK caught my eye. It cited a February 2018 study from Brightpearl, stating, “over 40% of US and UK retailers have seen a spike in intentional returns compared with a year ago. What's more, some 70% of retailers believe the try-before-you-buy model leads to more returns. [Try-before-you-buy] creates a tsunami of returns that could easily overwhelm retailers who do not have the processes or workflows in place to cope with that level of change.”

As you might expect, the piece also reports that the increase in returns has strongly affected margins—and not in a good way.

This made me think about some of the conversations I have had with producers of textiles and apparel—and the vendors that support them—who are using digital technologies to change business models in this arena. In talking about his company’s approach to on-demand apparel manufacturing, OnPoint Manufacturing’s Chief Commercial Officer Matthew Cochran said, “The design, produce, and ‘hope to sell at MSRP’ model is unsustainable, and our model, when brought to complete fruition, will enable a ‘design, sell, and produce model.’”