Blinkit, Zepto pilot returns, exchanges to ace fashion ecommerce

As quick commerce firms expand further into delivering apparel and lifestyle products in 10 minutes, they are looking to address one of the biggest pain points of online fashion shopping - returns and exchanges.

Gurgaon-based Blinkit has started testing 10-minute returns and exchanges for apparel, footwear and a few other lifestyle items such as handbags, as per the information displayed on the company's app. Nexus Venture Partners-backed Zepto is also offering 72-hour exchanges for apparel products in case they are damaged or defective.

Quick commerce executives aware of the specifics also said that certain brands are also entering into store returns agreements - wherein a customer who has purchased a particular product from the quick commerce app can return the product at an authorised outlet of the said brand.

According to industry estimates, around 25-30% of the orders in online fashion are subjected to returns as users look to replace products for want of correct sizes and fittings.


"The biggest problem in online fashion shopping is ensuring proper fit and sizing...for quick commerce companies, effectively handling reverse logistics for returns and exchanges will be crucial for the operational success of 10-minute fashion deliveries," a founder of a direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand told ET. Quick commerce has made a limited foray into fashion products by selling basic apparel such as undergarments, tshirts, socks and kurtas in addition to footwear products such as flipflops and sandals.

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According to a recent Elara Capital report, Blinkit's non-food category exposure is standing at 40% vs 33% for Instamart. Blinkit was able to offer 22,000 stock keeping units as against Instamart's 17,000, the report said. Zomato-owned Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto - all of which entered the fashion category earlier this year - sell products of brands such as Adidas, Pepe, FabIndia, Jockey, Boldfit, XYXX, Paragon, Liberty and others.


"Fashion on quick commerce so far is mainly from the point of view of what the consumer might need in 10 minutes...that in itself may not be a large set of use cases. This means there is no need for dark stores to store a large variety of SKUs. This may change going ahead, and maybe change temporarily during the festivals with seasonal items such as kurtas, saris, ethnic bottoms and others being in demand," a senior quick commerce executive said.

Rapid delivery of fashion is also picking up beyond the large quick commerce players.

Also Read | ETtech In-depth: Quick commerce is diversifying fast. It won’t be easy

Bengaluru-based startup Slikk, which makes 60-minute deliveries of a wide range of fashion items such as shirts, jackets, hoodies, trousers, trackpants, coords, women's dresses and nightwear, raised $300,000 in seed funding from Vaibhav Domkundwar's Better Capital to set up large format dark stores and expand the number of brands it offers.