46%
of returns are simply because the size, fit, or colour didn't match what the customer expected.
PIM Merchant Guide: Improving return rates for apparel companies
PIM Merchant Guide · Free E-book
Your customers don't return clothes. They return uncertainty
A practical guide for apparel brands on why 30–50% of online fashion orders come back — and how better product content, not better return policies, fixes it.
46% of fashion returns happen because size, fit, or color was wrong — not because of the product itself.
30–50%
average return rate for apparel sold online, per the Shopify Fashion Industry Report
62%
of online returns are really an exchange request in disguise — the customer wanted the product, just not that size
33%
of retailers don't even rank returns among their top five business priorities, per McKinsey
Why this happens
Online shopping turned "buying" into "risk-free discovery"
The growth of e-commerce made lenient returns the norm. Customers now treat a fashion order as a way to discover size and style, not as a final purchase — and retailers carry the cost.
Clothing is personal and emotional, and the choice is huge. Without a fitting room, customers lean entirely on your product page to decide. When that page under-delivers on fit, size, or true colour, the item comes back.
The conclusion in the e-book is blunt: the problem is rarely the garment. It's the product content describing it.
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Reasons customers give for returning fashion purchases. Source: Narvar, State of Online Returns 2019 — as cited in the Ergonode e-book.
12%
of returns happen because the product "wasn't as depicted" in its description or photos.
1
fix addresses both: proper parameterization of product content, not just prettier photos.
Inside the e-book
Six chapters, one path from "guessing" to "proper parameterization"
The guide walks apparel merchants through the full picture: why returns happen, how leading fashion brands present product data today, and how a PIM system operationalises it.
01
Why fit is the #1 return driver
The data behind the 30–50% apparel return rate and why retailers keep treating the symptom, not the cause.
02
How to reduce fashion returns
Concrete customer-experience moves: detailed measurements, multi-point size guides, measuring instructions, and diverse fit models.
03
Best practice, live from real stores
How Tchibo, Dilling, and Alexandra actually present size and fit on their product pages — screenshotted and broken down.
04
Bad examples to avoid
Size charts as images, one-model-fits-all sizing, and generic universal size guides — and why each quietly increases returns.
05
What a PIM actually is
How product data should be modelled — master products vs. size variants — so size content stays structured, not scattered.
06
How Ergonode PIM implements it
Templates, drag-and-drop editing, Kanban-based content workflows, and grid views built specifically for size data.
"The key to lowering the return rate is proper parameterization of product content."
— Ergonode, Improving Return Rates for Apparel CompaniesFrom the e-book
What good size & fit content actually looks like
The guide studies three fashion retailers who treat sizing as core product content, not an afterthought — and shows exactly what to copy.
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Best practice · 01
Show the product on more than one body
Tchibo's flagship store displays its products on models of different sizes, giving shoppers a real wearing context instead of one idealised fit. The e-book flags this as a simple, high-impact change most retailers skip.
Source: www.tchibo.de, via the Ergonode e-book
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Best practice · 02
Describe the garment, not just the marketing story
Danish brand Dilling pairs an expanded product description — material, quality, care — with an individual measurement chart per product. The e-book highlights this as the model for "detailed product information" done right.
Source: www.dilling.com, via the Ergonode e-book
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Best practice · 03
Help customers measure themselves correctly
British workwear brand Alexandra built an interactive configurator that walks shoppers through taking their own measurements — height, bust, waist, hips, arm — before recommending a size.
Source: www.alexandra.co.uk, via the Ergonode e-book
Three habits the e-book says to break
Size chart as an image
Baked-in-image size charts hurt SEO indexing and are painful to read on mobile.
Sizing shown for one model only
Describing only the sample size (usually S) tells customers nothing about how L or XL actually fits.
One generic size guide for everything
A universal chart across brands ignores real differences — a Lacoste M isn't an Adidas M.
How Ergonode PIM helps
Model size data properly, once, and every channel inherits it
The e-book's core idea: separate the marketing content that sells the garment from the size content that fits it — then let a PIM system manage both, together.
S
M
L
size as binding attribute
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Size variantsSimple products. Their data focuses on size guides and charts.
Master product modelProduct with variants. Its data focuses on marketing and branding.
In the apparel industry there's usually a base product — a master model — linked to simple products that represent specific sizes, the variants. These variants are the virtual equivalent of what actually sits on the warehouse shelf.
Splitting the data this way means marketing content (photos, materials, care) lives on the master model, while precise measurements live where they belong: on each size variant.
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Templates
Build dedicated product templates with size charts
A drag-and-drop template engine lets each variant carry its own set of measurement attributes, designed specifically to capture fit — not a generic field borrowed from a different product type.
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Workflow
Organize the content enrichment process
Parameterizing the data is one side of the coin — organizing the team doing it is the other. A Kanban board gives full visibility into what's new, in draft, needs correction, or is ready to publish.
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Bulk editing
Personalize the view to manage sizing at scale
Drag relevant measurement attributes into a spreadsheet-style grid and edit sizing data inline, across hundreds of products, without opening a single product card.
About Ergonode
A modern, ergonomic PIM built with content teams in mind
Ergonode is a modern open PIM system that facilitates and streamlines product information management in e-commerce — a simple platform to create, manage, and distribute product information across every channel.
Built on years of experience in the e-commerce industry, it's designed to make managing thousands of products as simple and convenient as possible, with a focus on design, efficiency, and ergonomy.
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Get the full guide
Read the full e-book, then let's talk about your catalog
Get every chapter — the data, the best-practice teardown, the bad examples, and the full walkthrough of how Ergonode PIM structures size and fit content — then book time with the team to see it on your own products.
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