More than half of consumers admit to bracketing. Source: Statista

Returns cost online retailers an average 21% of the retail price and, in some cases, a whopping 66%. Plus, less than half of returned goods are resold at full price, and as much as 25% gets binned. All this squeezes margins for fashion retailers, who face a particularly high return rate of 30%-40%.

The biggest reason for this is bracketing — the practice of buying items in multiple sizes with the intention of keeping only what fits. Bracketing boomed during the pandemic and remains popular.