Online Shopping Giants Bet On AI To Curb Clothes Returns

From sizing advice via selfies to robot stock-takers, online shopping behemoths have increasingly turned to artificial intelligence in a bid to stem the flow of bad-for-business clothes returns

Paris, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Feb, 2025) From sizing advice via selfies to robot stock-takers, online shopping behemoths have increasingly turned to artificial intelligence in a bid to stem the flow of bad-for-business clothes returns.

Up to 30 percent of fashion items bought on the internet are sent back, according to a late 2024 study by consulting firm McKinsey and the business of Fashion website -- not least because "clients are buying several sizes or styles and returning most of them".

That practice drags down profit margins. Each returned package costs between $21 and $46 on average given the costs of transport, treatment and making the item fit for selling again, according to a separate McKinsey study.

"Seventy percent of returns are linked to a sizing issue," said Zoe Tournant, whose company Fringuant markets an AI-driven algorithm to fix that, charging clients between 5,000 to 100,000 Euros ($5,250 to $105,000) a year.

Armed with the customer's height, weight and a quick selfie taken on the phone, the French-based startup promises shoppers a better idea of what size would fit them best.

"With the selfie we detect their age, gender", to help "refine" the image of the customer's body fed into its AI model, trained for a year on thousands of photos, Tournant explained.

Within seconds that model is then matched up with the garment's dimensions provided by the brand to tell shoppers whether a jumper "falls perfectly on the shoulder" or if there are "doubts at the level of the hips" for a pair of trousers.

Tournant said her firm has some 20 clients, including upmarket womenswear label Maje, which she claimed has seen a dramatic drop in returns.