A survey by retail and wholesale digital operations platform Brightpearl reveals, to win back online shoppers, 44 per cent of UK fashion brands plan to roll out free delivery services by 2021. Around 34 per cent of these brands plan to offer free returns while 25 per cent plan to launch Click & Collect services by next year. Another 56 per cent of UK’s retailers plan to switch retail focus to online over the next 12 months. They are boosting online services with one third of them offering free delivery, 22 per cent offering free returns and 23 per cent offering same- or next-day delivery — within next six months.

However, research showed 61 per cent consumers have experienced issues buying from brands online in the past 12 months alone, with the majority of problems related to issues with delivery and returns.