The Hidden Competitor: How Customer Doubt Costs E-Commerce

TL;DR

Your toughest competitor isn’t another brand, it’s doubt. At checkout, “extra costs” and forced account creation are the top reasons shoppers abandon their carts [1]. After purchase, uncertainty about fit drives fashion returns: ~20% of online clothing items and ~30% of footwear are sent back in Europe [2]. Handling a return parcel costs about €8 (transport + processing), and the all-in cost per online return can reach 55–75% of the retail price once markdowns and customer care are included [3][4][5][6].

The hidden competitor at checkout: doubt

Everything looks right, ads are converting, pages are fast, the product page shines. Then customers disappear at the last step. The culprit is rarely a tech bug; it’s micro-frictions that trigger doubt: “Will shipping fees pop up?” “Do I have to create an account?”
Across large-scale checkout studies, the #1 abandonment reason is unexpected extra costs (shipping, taxes, fees). A major share of shoppers also leave when forced to create an account [1]. If you don’t remove those doubts before payment, the sale vanishes.

The second hit: doubt after purchase = returns

In fashion, doubt doesn’t stop at checkout. It shows up as returns, and fashion has the highest rates in e-commerce: about one in five clothing items and one in three pairs of shoes bought online are returned in Europe [2]. Most are not defects; they’re fit/style mismatches [2].

Why it hurts: handling a returned parcel (inbound transport, receiving, inspection, repack) typically lands around €7–€9 in Europe; using €8 as an EU-wide average sits well within published benchmarks [3][4][5]. On tight apparel margins, that alone can erase contribution, before you consider markdowns.

When you do include downstream costs (customer care time, markdown/liquidation, write-downs), independent industry analysis finds the total economic cost per online return can reach 55–75% of the retail price [6]. That’s why returns are a P&L problem, not a warehouse chore.

Build a bridge of confidence (what actually works)

1) Kill checkout doubt.
Show full costs early (shipping, taxes), default to guest checkout, and let shoppers see delivery/return policy before the cart. These are the top two abandonment triggers you control [1].

2) Kill fit doubt.
Treat sizing and fit as data, not decoration. Size charts are rarely trusted; shoppers bracket because they expect to be wrong. Use data-driven size recommendations and, where the category demands it, visual fit (3D/avatars) so the shopper can see how a garment is likely to sit on their body. In EU data, fit/style is the dominant return driver, so this is where ROI appears first [2].

3) Align policy with behaviour.
If your policy silently rewards multi-size bracketing (free returns, long windows), you’ll feel it in value loss. Nudge out-of-home drop-offs where possible and shorten windows on seasonal SKUs, then track markdown rate and cost per return before and after.

What “good” looks like

• Put cost per return next to contribution in the weekly deck. If you only account for postage, you’re under-reporting [3][4][5].
• Instrument return reasons with structured options (fit too small/large, fabric feel, colour), not a free-text dump; close the loop with design/merch monthly.
• Pilot size recommendations + visual fit on the SKUs with highest return value (denim, dresses, footwear). Scale after a clean A/B readout on return rate and markdowns.
• Fix checkout basics first (fees visibility, guest checkout). No acquisition strategy out-runs a leaky checkout [1].

Method & Sources

Scope. Focus on fashion e-commerce. Checkout reasons from large-sample usability/cart studies; returns from EU agencies/associations; costs from EU retail research. We avoid global dollar headlines unless tied to a primary method.

Sources

1. Baymard Institute — Cart Abandonment Reasons (Checkout UX Research). Accessed 16 Sep 2025. https://baymard.com/lists/cart-abandonment-reasons
2. European Environment Agency — The destruction of returned and unsold textiles in Europe’s circular economy. 04 Mar 2024. https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/publications/the-destruction-of-returned-and-unsold-textiles-in-europes-circular-economy
3. Ecommerce News EU (quoting University of Bamberg / Asdecker) — Average return shipment cost €6.95 in Germany. 09 Sep 2022. https://ecommercenews.eu/around-530-million-parcels-were-returned-in-germany/
4. EHI Retail Institute — Versand- und Retourenmanagement 2023 (Leseprobe) (return-rate ranges; ops cost context). 2023. https://www.ehi.org/wp-content/uploads/Downloads/Leseproben/Studie_Versand-und_Retourenmanagement_2023_Leseprobe.pdf
5. bevh — Retourenkompendium (fashion per-item processing benchmarks). 2023. https://bevh.org/fileadmin/content/04_politik/Nachhaltigkeit/Retourenkompendium/bevh-Retourenkompendium_Webseite.pdf
6. Institute of Positive Fashion (British Fashion Council) — Solving Fashion’s Product Returns (total cost per online return 55–75% of retail price). 14 Mar 2023. https://instituteofpositivefashion.com/uploads/files/1/Report---Solving-fashion%27s-product-returns-March-2023.pdf