Selling on major marketplaces such as Amazon, Zalando, and ASOS offers many benefits. You reach a larger audience, increase brand awareness, and can boost international product sales. This is generally achieved with a relatively small investment. But why do we consciously choose not to collaborate with these platforms?

High Returns

You know the scenario: you order something online but are unsure about the size. So, you order several sizes and return the ones that don't fit. A truck makes another round trip to return your order to the warehouse. This return process generates a lot of CO2 emissions. This process happens with all online shops, but it occurs much more frequently with marketplaces. This is partly because marketplaces offer many brands, more than typical stores. Additionally, marketplaces often don't have physical stores where you can try on clothing. Moreover, marketplaces make it as easy as possible to order by offering free shipping and returns.

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Where do the returns go?

High returns do not only result in high CO2 emissions, but lots of returns aren't put back up for sale. At large marketplaces, returned clothes are unfortunately often destroyed. The clothing can end up in incinerators or landfills. According to Cecile Scheele, founder of the Dutch Sustainable Fashion Week, approximately 1.2 million clothing items are destroyed annually in the Netherlands. 1.2 million! All this while clothing requires a lot of water, energy, and labor to produce. We prefer to have control over what happens to our returns.

Unfair Competition

Marketplaces offer a wide range of brands. This attracts many customers, causing them not to visit smaller stores. This makes it harder for small retailers selling Kuyichi to compete with large marketplaces, which we don't want. Additionally, large marketplaces are often price fighters, making it seem like there is always a sale. While we do not participate in seasonal sales and ask our retailers not to do so either. This ensures fair competition between online and physical retailers where Kuyichi is sold. Large marketplaces often cannot comply with our 'No Sale' policy.

According to Cecile Scheele, founder of the Dutch Sustainable Fashion Week, approximately 1.2 million clothing items are destroyed annually in the Netherlands.

Working with Sustainable Marketplaces

However, it is also attractive for us to collaborate with marketplaces to reach more people who want to make conscious choices. And no, we are not talking about marketplaces like Amazon and Zalando. The marketplaces we are referring to are platforms like Shop Like You Give A Damn, Project Cece, and Avocado Store. These marketplaces have a conscious character and attract conscious customers. They do not participate in the discount parade, and returns are lower. We find it important to work with companies that share the same goal and help conscious customers find better products.