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Women's clothing e-commerce, disappointment in 2024.

Text | Yi Tong

Edited by Chen Meixi

A few days ago, a piece of news about returns was once again on Weibo hot search - 400 skirts were collectively returned, and the store lost 8,000 yuan. Since the beginning of this year, disputes between merchants and customers caused by returns have occurred frequently, and a surging wave of women's clothing e-commerce store closures has been set off in 2024.

Whether it’s the Douyin women’s clothing anchor giant with sales of over 100 million in a single game and 5 million fans, or Taobao’s five-gold crown internet celebrity store for many years, or the e-commerce newcomer who just entered the market this year, the escape drama is everywhere.

It is not only the merchants who are having a hard time, but also many users have told us thatHedgehog Commune (ID: ciweigongshe)，2024 is the year with the most returns and the worst online shopping experience.

Ruilin, an online shopper for 15 years, has always adhered to the principle of not returning items if they are worn, and this year she also started the "return, return, return" mode. She said frankly: "The long pre-sale period, serious mismatch of goods, obvious signs of wear and washing after delivery... Who can resist not returning them?"

Just now, Ruilin sent away a pair of jeans purchased online. There was a large and obvious stain on the pocket of the jeans. It was not known whether it was oil stain or blood stain after simple treatment. The customer service replied that it was "accidentally stained with motor oil when leaving the factory."

On one hand, consumers are in a dilemma of not being able to buy satisfactory clothes, and on the other hand, merchants are in a difficult situation of poor management. Although merchants and consumers have a common goal - to buy or sell clothes, women's clothing e-commerce seems to be heading towards a weird lose-lose situation.

Fang Jianhua, the founder of women's clothing brand Inman, spoke out during the 618 shopping festival this year, saying that "freight insurance" was the culprit for the surge in return rates and called for the cancellation of mandatory freight insurance. However, some people believe that the problems of women's clothing e-commerce have been around for a long time, and freight insurance is only a trigger, not the cause.

In addition to the high return rate, this article wants to explore whether there are more complex structural problems in the current women's clothing e-commerce environment, causing it to fall into a vicious cycle and be unable to extricate itself.

2024, women's clothing e-commerce retreat

Mora is a women's clothing merchant on a certain platform and has been doing women's clothing for 12 years. In February this year, the store began to clear out its inventory, and by July, she decided to say goodbye to her career in clothing e-commerce.

From a freshly graduated student to a married woman with children, in her 12-year e-commerce journey, she has experienced joy, disappointment, praise, and criticism. The luckiest thing is that she has accumulated a lot of users and friends who believe in her. But now, Mora has to press the pause button for herself.

After announcing the store closure, she received many messages from old customers. She said: "What touched me most was that some people said that the clothes they bought from us many years ago are still being worn and they still like them very much."

"The quality of the clothes we make is guaranteed, and we mostly choose silk and modal fabrics. I personally supervise every batch of goods, and even check the threads of each piece of clothing repeatedly," she explained.

Although Mora has been making clothes seriously from the beginning to the end, it still cannot resist the rapid decline in overall traffic. Since 2023, the store's sales have fallen sharply, and it was even worse in September last year. Even the minimum order quantity for making goods did not reach 100 pieces.

Not only that, Mora also has to deal with people who return the goods after wearing them for the seventh day. Some even send back pants with underwear in them and skirts with blood on them...On one hand, the number of consumers who maliciously take advantage of the products is increasing, while on the other hand, the platform policies, rules and even functions are being adjusted frequently.

All this made her uneasy. She reviewed and reflected on it many times, but she became more and more confused. She didn't know what she had done wrong and whether she should adjust her position or change her direction.

Finally, she accepted the fact that her R&D capability and competitiveness had declined, so she decided to turn around. Not continuing to start a business when she was confused was her explanation to herself and to her users.

Mora said in an almost firm tone: "I probably won't do e-commerce for a long time in the future." By closing the online store, Mora put an end to her career before the age of 30.

On the day of her official farewell, she posted a video recording everything she had worked so hard for when she was making women's clothing - design, pattern making, fabric procurement, cutting, printing, sewing, buttoning and other processes. At the end of the video, Mora said -The changing times forced me to restart my life.

After hearing Mora's story, Huijun deeply felt the same way. She believed that Mora was undoubtedly lucky, as she had caught up with a good era and reaped the benefits. She was also smart, as after the traffic declined, she turned around decisively and calmly and put the money in her pocket.

Huijun entered the women's clothing e-commerce market this year and opened a store on a certain platform, but it could not continue in less than three months. When communicating with peers, she heard the most: "Refund if you can, don't wait until you really lose money before leaving, and landing safely is the most important thing."

Huijun told Hedgehog Commune that it is normal to return two out of three pieces sold, and it is also normal for a piece of clothing to be shipped 3-4 times before it can be sold.

In such a "normal" environment, many people feel they can't breathe, and practitioners have lost their ambitions and are left with only anxiety.

On social media, every few days a clothing manager will announce a store closure notice or share his or her own store closing experience. The topic of store closures has even become a tag that brings its own traffic. The comment section gathers a group of manufacturers from the upstream, midstream and downstream of the industry chain, all lamenting that the clothing industry is difficult to do business in.

Shirley is a live-streaming merchant specializing in women's clothing. She said: "I broadcast for six hours every day, and the transaction amount in the live-streaming room can reach 500,000 to 800,000 yuan. No one believes me when I tell others that I am losing money. But the fact is that no matter how good the GMV is, it is all in vain when you do the math."

Shirley revealed that it is still possible to make some money by imitating big brands, and clothing manufacturers in Shenzhen are all doing this in preparation for the autumn and winter clothing peak season.

In this dangerous game in the vortex, will the ruthless one win?

As Shirley said, the survival space of original women's clothing positioned in the middle of the market is severely squeezed. Even if the cost rises, the price cannot be raised. Once the price starts to be low, it can only go lower and lower. The "Girl Kayla" that has been in the spotlight for arrears is an example, the "Retro Big Bang" that has been a ten-year-old store with millions of fans is an example, and the "Lola Code" that has annual sales of billions and has always ranked in the top two of the rankings is even more of an example.

Many respondents in the women's clothing industry believe thatThere are two reasons for the above dilemma: group buying and only refunding.One was the unintentional mistake of ordinary users, and the other provided space for those who were well prepared, which ultimately led to the "Suffering of Women's Clothing Merchants".

E-commerce platforms hold various "consumption festivals" throughout the year, offering discount coupons and free shipping insurance from time to time. Merchants will choose to mark their usual prices higher and make a 15-day price guarantee promise to customers accordingly. However, this is accompanied by rising costs and an increasing return rate.

Take the example of group buying. Many users buy unwanted products in order to reach the threshold of discount or free shipping, but forget to cancel the order immediately after the group buying is completed, and inform the merchant only after the goods are shipped. In this way, the merchant not only has to pay for the shipping fee and insurance, but also wastes packaging materials, as well as manual packaging and ironing.

In addition, the store's after-sales service has a direct impact on the store's weight. That is, the higher the negative reviews and return rate, the lower the store's ranking will be, and refunds will be made for every order.

In fact, returns affect not only merchants, but also consumers. The more clothes are returned, the more consumers may receive secondary sales of clothes, thus falling into a vicious cycle.

Some merchants set the sales schedule as "pre-sale of first batch" and "second batch to be shipped in 15 days". At this time, the second batch of clothes may even be returned from the first batch, and these 15 days are the time difference reserved for the first batch of consumers to return the goods.

For women's clothing merchants, adding items to the order is just an annoyance. At worst, the merchants can transfer this part of the expenditure to the pricing to spread the cost, but a refund alone, as long as it happens one or two times, can be a fatal blow.

The problem is, refunds alone have almost become the standard after-sales method of e-commerce platforms. Why is the women's clothing industry the first to fail?

In fact, the refund-only after-sales method may even be more cost-effective for small commodities that cost as little as a few dollars - there is no need to resend the express, no need to waste time and effort arguing with users, and no need to silently digest negative reviews from users. One-click "refund only" can solve all troubles.

However, for women's clothing merchants, especially mid-range women's clothing merchants with higher average order values ​​and independent design and pattern making, the losses caused by refunds alone are far higher than those from returns and refunds.

The owner of a custom women's clothing store once revealed on social media that after he tailored a suit for a customer worth about 3,000 yuan, the customer "only refunded" him because the size was not suitable. The two sides argued for a long time, and finally the platform determined that the buyer's demands were reasonable, and forced him to refund only and deduct the deposit. The owner immediately decided to close the store and claimed that he would insist on defending his rights to the end.

Once there is a "successful case" to emulate, there will be training for getting the best deals. Faced with the professional team of "freeloaders", every merchant will be trembling with fear, fearing that they will be ruined.

Although the freeloaders are only a very small group in front of the huge number of real users, and there are more consumers who have needs and are willing to pay for high-quality products, when a stone is thrown into the water, the ripples will spread farther and farther.

Huijun once said bluntly: "If women's clothing continues to follow the rule of only refunding, the better the product, the faster it will die."

For non-standard products such as clothing, refunds alone seem to be only a way to forceMiddleMerchants make low-end products and charge low prices, otherwise the higher the quality, the more difficult it will be to bear the burden of just refunding.

Because research and development, design, quality control, quality inspection and other links all require people and money. Once prices start to drop, merchants can only continue to be compatible with lower prices, reduce positions, and reduce costs and increase efficiency.

But the cruelty of the market does not stop there. The decline in store traffic and the increase in traffic costs are also happening at the same time. The faster the decline, the more exposure resources merchants need, and the higher the sales expenses paid for this. Whether it is finding influencers to bring goods or delivering information flow, these will naturally be counted as costs and included in the pricing.

This is also one of the reasons why many users feel that "clothes are getting more expensive, but the quality is getting worse."

At this time, putMid-range women's clothingThere are only two options left for merchants: either sacrifice quality and startLower price; Or "make up your mind" to transform into high-end or imitation brands.

During the autumn and winter of last year, many women's clothing stores that were once internet celebrities transformed themselves into selling imitations and substitutes of MaxMara coats. After changing suppliers, they opened new stores on multiple platforms and raised prices, raising the prices of in-store goods from hundreds of yuan to five thousand yuan in order to screen out some consumers with "low net worth".

But for more small and medium-sized businesses, selling at low prices is a battle royale, and selling at mid- to high-end prices is a game of capital, and they dare not take risks. Therefore, closing the store is a safe option.

The women's clothing market destroyed by "explosive items"

At this point, the online women's clothing market has fallen into an embarrassing situation where merchants are complaining and consumers have nothing to buy. I believe many people can't help but ask - what exactly destroyed the women's clothing market?

Some people are hostile towards freight insurance, pointing the blame for the high return rate of women's clothing at freight insurance and regarding it as their lifelong enemy.

Freight insurance accelerates order conversion rate, but also increases return rate. In the era without freight insurance, everyone can play with the "people, goods and places" on their own plate, and clearly know how many people there are and how much goods are ready.

But with freight insurance, behind the false prosperity of conversion rate is not real GMV, but huge unknowns and uncertainties. Blindly adding leverage without the ability to resist risks will eventually drag oneself into the vortex.

Especially for small and medium-sized businesses, they should not overestimate their appetite. They should eat only within their stomach capacity so that they can enjoy their meals.

Some practitioners also believe that the last straw that broke the camel's back for the women's clothing industry was freight insurance, but the structural problems reflected in the women's clothing environment cannot be solved by simply abolishing a small freight insurance.

Shirley once mentioned her extremely tangled state of mind: "Afraid of not being able to sell，I'm afraid it will sell out.。”

Because, compared to not selling out, the risk of overselling is greater, and once the market collapses, it will be a disaster. She explained that if the products cannot be sold out, it will become inventory pressure, and the piles of products in the warehouse will make her anxious every night and unable to sleep all night; if the products are sold out, all employees will have to work overtime and work day and night to catch up.

But the result may be - the buyer cancels the order (returns the goods during the pre-sale period); the competitor copies the goods.

When the market is not good, no one cares about the development of new models. When seeing a hot item, everyone will rush to buy it. Pirated products may even be faster and cheaper than the original ones. At this time, pirated products only need to increase the intensity of precise flow. The platform's price comparison system will send the same clothing at a lower price to users, especially those who have already purchased the same item.

You must have experienced a similar scenario: when you have just placed an order for a popular dress from a certain store, all the identical dresses marked "same style, same source, same place of shipment" but with less than half the price appear on your homepage. But you can't tell which good reviews are genuine, and you can't tell which data is fake. In the end, after comparing prices everywhere, you are dazzled and have to return the order.

Image source: Weibo

When involution, plagiarism, and price competition become "standard", the situation of women's clothing merchants will only become more dangerous and embarrassing. Ultimately, consumers and high-quality merchants can only look at each other across the sea, with no chance of moving in both directions.

"It is so easy to copy other products. There are sellers without sources of goods on every platform. Many of the so-called hot-selling products are purchased by middlemen from 1688. No one knows or cares who the original work is." Huijun explained.

A fashion consultant believes that those who really want to make good women's clothing should avoid three things: gyaru, Maillard, and new Chinese style. The return rates of these three categories are very high, especially gyaru, which has been verified by the market several times.

The truth is actually very simple. Don't follow the trend just to meet the one-time demand of producing a photo or the style that is popular in the season but not practical to wear. However, few people can "watch others make quick money without being jealous."

When only spicy girl clothes, Maillard and new Chinese styles are left on the market, it is also the most boring time for women's clothing. Consumers who cannot buy suitable clothes will naturally "return as much as they buy".

At this time, it is easy to get hot-selling products, but the online women's clothing market will also be destroyed by such "hot-selling products". Perhaps this is the style tragedy of non-standard products.

(At the request of the interviewees, Ruilin, Mocha, Huijun and Shirley are pseudonyms in this article.)

For media cooperation, please contact WeChat ID: ciweimeijiejun

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