What is Bracketing?
Bracketing is the process of buying multiple versions of the same item, knowing that you will be able to return the ones you don’t want. For example, a customer doesn’t know what size dress she wears. To make sure that she buys the size, she buys a size below and a size above what she thinks her size is. After, getting the dresses, she tries them on and returns the two that don’t fit her.
Is Bracketing Good Or Bad?
As customers were sitting at home all day, early on in the pandemic, they were sitting on the couch, laying on their bed, eating, sleeping, watching TV, working from home, etc. In short, they were sitting at home not getting in much exercise. In a study conducted by Harvard Health, 39% gained 2.5 pounds. Approximately 27% gained about 12.5 pounds and about 10% gained more than 12.5 pounds, with 2% gaining over 27.5 pounds. This caused people’s clothes and shoe sizes to change.
As many stores closed during the pandemic, consumers were forced to shift to online shopping. With people gaining weight, they didn’t know what size they were. This caused bracketing rates to skyrocket.
Let’s suppose that there are two sisters: Susie and Kathy. They both are working women who love to go to the gym. As the pandemic hit, companies had people working from home, and gyms closed. Susie had a schedule fixed: work, exercise, work, while Kathy didn’t. Kathy concentrated more on work and didn’t have any time to work out. As time passed by, Susie’s weight stayed the same, but Kathy’s increased by 9.8 pounds. Eventually, Susie and Kathy decided to buy themselves some clothes. Susie, who hadn’t gained any weight knew her size and could get exactly what she wanted. On the other hand, Kathy didn’t know her size, so she had to shop around her size. She would buy 5 versions of a dress and then later return 4 of them.
Another reason that bracketing has increased is that as stores closed during the pandemic, people couldn’t walk out of a store carrying everything that they wanted. Instead, as they are scrolling through store websites, they add everything that they think they want to their cart. After buying everything they think they wanted, they try everything on. Eventually, they realize that they don’t want most of that stuff, so they return things.
Let’s suppose that Maria is used to going to a store, trying on clothes, and then purchasing exactly what she needs. Now, that the stores are closed, she has to opt for online shopping. She only wants to buy 3 shirts, but as she is scrolling through everything on the store’s website, she sees a lot of stuff that she really likes. In the end, she buys 7 shirts instead of 3. After trying on the shirts, she realizes that she doesn’t need the extra 4 shirts that she bought, so she returns them.
This process of bracketing causes retailers to get more products returned to them than products that are bought. About 25 percent of returns are discarded by retailers. This causes retailers to face a substantial loss. According to the National Retail Federation, the average retailer in 2020 incurred $106 million in returns for every $1 billion in sales.
Environmental Effects Of Bracketing
- Most retailers use heavy-duty trucks to deliver garments and these vehicles contribute to Co2 emissions. When an item is returned it enters a reverse transportation chain, doubling the emissions. The sustainable returns company Optoro estimated that returns generate 15 million metric tons of carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere. After making this journey, 50% of garments returned will not even be restocked. Sometimes it’s cheaper to throw away merchandise than to repackage, re-inventory, store it, resell it, and ship it out again.
- The popularity of an item that is bought several times by the same customer leads companies to overproduce that item as a response to high demand. This leads to the production of more garments using harmful chemicals which end up in surplus and in landfills. In addition to garments ending up in landfills, single-use plastic packaging, and excessive amounts of cardboard also end up in the landfills.
How To Prevent Bracketing?
- As more shops are now opening, try going in person to stores instead of buying online clothes.
- If you have to buy online, only buy the things that you truly need, to prevent any unnecessary things.
- As your size fluctuates, refer to size charts to find out what size you are. This way, you aren’t buying clothes around your predicted size.
- If you end up with an item that isn’t right, try re-selling it instead of returning it.
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