Fashion & Apparel
Fashion and apparel brands face the highest return rates in ecommerce — 15-30% of all orders come back. Combined with seasonal markdowns, size exchange costs, and the constant pressure to offer free shipping and returns, true per-order profitability is a moving target. Agentis enforces margin floors that account for projected return cost at the point of sale.
Apparel gross margins of 50-65% are systematically eroded by the industry's structural cost model. Return rates of 15-30% mean that for every 10 orders shipped, 2-3 come back — each incurring $8-15 in reverse logistics costs plus potential inventory depreciation. Free shipping both ways (now table stakes for DTC apparel) adds $12-20 per round trip. Seasonal markdown pressure forces 40-60% of inventory to sell below initial margin. Size exchanges, while retaining the customer, double fulfillment costs on that order.
Industry Benchmarks
Gross Margin
50-65%
Net Margin
3-10%
Return Rate
15-30%
Real-World Example
A DTC fashion brand offers 30% off during an end-of-season sale. A customer orders a dress in three sizes (bracketing) with free shipping and free returns. Two of three will come back. The brand pays $14 in outbound shipping, $28 in return shipping for two items, and the 30% discount. True cost of the one dress kept: margin is -6%. Agentis would enforce a minimum order margin that accounts for projected bracketing return cost.
Agentis uses historical return rates by SKU category, size, and customer segment to calculate a projected return cost that's factored into the margin evaluation at checkout. A category with a 25% return rate has a higher cost buffer built into its profit floor than one with a 5% rate.
Yes. Agentis can identify patterns consistent with bracketing (multiple sizes/colors of the same item in one order) and apply adjusted margin rules. This might mean requiring a higher profit floor for orders flagged as probable bracket purchases.
Agentis enforces your configured profit floor regardless of the promotional context. During a 40% off sale, if a customer also applies a loyalty reward, Agentis checks whether the combined discount still meets your minimum margin — and blocks the order or adjusts the discount if it doesn't.
Solution
Stop invisible margin erosion from stacked promos, influencer codes, and free shipping thresholds. Agentis enforces profit floors at checkout for DTC brands on Shopify Plus.
Solution
Go beyond Shopify’s native reporting with real-time margin intelligence that factors in live COGS from NetSuite, freight zone costs, and FX rates.
Solution
Get a single view of profitability across Shopify, Amazon, and wholesale channels. Agentis enforces per-channel profit floors with live cost data from your ERP.
Margin Analysis
The gradual, often undetected loss of profit across many orders — driven by small per-order cost overruns that compound into significant revenue erosion over time.
Margin Analysis
The gradual loss of profit margin at checkout caused by unmonitored discount stacking, freight cost miscalculation, FX fluctuations, and stale COGS data.
Cost Management
A carrier pricing model that divides destinations into numbered zones based on distance from the shipping origin, with costs increasing progressively for higher-numbered zones.
Profit Governance
An order where the total variable costs — COGS, shipping, discounts, payment fees — exceed the revenue collected, resulting in a net loss on the transaction.
Deep-dive margin playbooks for Fashion & Apparel brands running specific stacks on Shopify Plus.
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