The Logistics of Online Clothing Returns in Sweden and How to Reduce its Environmental Impact

Abstract

Online shopping for clothes continues to increase apace and with it, clothing returns. Returns create a whole logistics flow which has negative environmental consequences. Although there is a growing literature on reverse logistics and returns management, there is little which actually describes and analyses the returns process. Until this is fully understood, a detailed analysis of the environmental impacts of returns is impossible. Through a combination of case-study interviews and a qualitative survey of experts, this paper seeks to illuminate the complexity of the returns process and structures involved and in so doing, suggest ways in which the environmental footprint of returns can be improved. It highlights the joint roles of consumers, retailers and carriers in this process.