Bloomingdale’s tightens its return policy

Here’s a brief comment from a recent RetailWire discussion about Bloomingdale’s. The subject is their new policy (and enhanced tag) meant to prevent customers from buying dresses for an occasion and then returning them the next day — essentially a “rent-a-dress” business. I agree with the policy, although not all panelists were on the same page on this one:

It’s one thing to have a customer-friendly return policy, and many retailers have used this as a marketing platform. It’s another thing entirely to subject yourself to customers who “abuse the privilege.” Bloomingdale’s is obviously more vulnerable than most stores because of its focus on “social dressing.” It’s clearly a big enough issue that Bloomingdale’s (and its vendors) have invested in the extra expense of the b-tag.

I think the move is worth the expected pushback on the social networks. Bloomingdale’s will need to deal with individual exceptions to the policy, however. It’s quite possible that a well-intentioned customer will buy a dress, remove the b-tags and find a valid reason (fit, defects in workmanship) to return the item.