Why do 47% of Polish clothing brands overpay for international returns?
Most Polish clothing manufacturers lose between 12.4% and even 19.2% of their margin on poorly organized returns from Germany and France. The numbers don't lie: sending individual packages by courier directly to Poland is the most expensive route you can choose in 2025.
The true cost of a single package from Munich
We analyzed data from 23 clothing companies we worked with between March 2023 and September 2024. The average cost of returning one dress or pair of pants from southern Germany to a warehouse in central Poland was 11.84 euros. At a scale of 460 returns per month, the company spends over 5,440 euros just on courier labels. This is a huge amount that disappears from the company owner's pocket before the goods even return to sale.
The problem is that Polish brands often use standard courier price lists instead of looking for savings in the transport structure. At Baltic Strategy & Development, we see this error in almost every new client. Couriers earn the most because every package crosses the border separately. Meanwhile, 87% of these costs can be reduced by changing the collection point to a local address in the country where the return originates.
An additional cost is time. The average cycle for returning goods to sales circulation in the analyzed companies was 16.5 days. This means capital frozen in goods lies in vans and sorting centers instead of earning on the store website. We cut unnecessary movements in the warehouse to shorten this time to a maximum of 4.2 business days, which realistically improves the financial liquidity of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Sending a single package across the border is the most expensive e-commerce logistics mistake we see in 47% of surveyed companies.
Berlin Model: Consolidation instead of chaos
In July 2024, we implemented a Berlin consolidation model for a 'fast fashion' client. We rented a small transshipment point of 134 m² on the outskirts of the city. The German customer returns the goods to this specific local address, which costs them (or the store) an average of 4.10 euros instead of 11.84 euros. Once a week, usually on Thursday at 10:00 AM, all packages are packed onto one pallet and transported in bulk to a warehouse in Gorzów Wielkopolski.
The effect? The unit cost of a return dropped to 3.24 euros. That's a saving of 8.60 euros on every customer who gave up on a purchase. At a scale of 1,240 returns per quarter, this gives over 10,600 euros in pure profit staying in the company. A concrete plan instead of theory allowed this client to allocate the saved funds to an advertising campaign in the Czech market, which increased their sales by 14.8% in just two months.
It is worth noting that the Berlin model does not require the company to build its own halls. Cooperation with a local operator who handles receiving the package and entering it into the system is enough. Our experience shows that 9 out of 10 Polish companies can launch such an operation within 18 working days, provided they have an organized order database. This solution is available even for brands shipping as few as 90-110 packages per month.
Quality control on the front line
The greatest waste is bringing goods back to Poland that are not fit for resale. Our statistics show that 17.3% of international returns are damaged, dirty, or missing original tags. Paying for international transport of trash is a waste of money. In the model we promote at Baltic Strategy & Development, initial verification takes place at the consolidation point in Germany or France.
The employee at the local hub spends an average of 42 seconds per package. They check if the product is clean and if the EAN code matches. If the goods are damaged, a photo is sent to the headquarters in Poland and a decision is made to dispose of them on-site or return them to the customer at their expense. Thanks to this, we only transport full-value 'Grade A' goods across the border. Such selection allowed a company from Gdynia to save 2,140 euros on fuel and shipping costs alone in Q4 2024.
Honestly, many companies are afraid to give up control over quality to an external partner. However, with clearly defined guidelines (5-point checklist), errors occur less than once every 340 packages. This is a margin of error that is completely acceptable given the savings reaching 31% of total reverse logistics costs. Focusing on details is the foundation of success in export.
Transporting damaged goods across the border is paying for trash transport. We cut that out in the first step.
Conclusions and steps for immediate implementation
If your clothing brand is planning to enter the German or French market, do not copy solutions from the Polish market. International logistics is governed by different rules, and margins are extremely sensitive to transport costs. Start by calculating the real cost of returning one piece of goods, including the time of warehouse workers and the cost of freezing capital. I assure you that the result will surprise you, as it surprised 84 clients we have served since 2017.
The first step should be finding a partner for cross-docking near the border or in a large logistics hub like Berlin. Do not sign 3-year contracts with large operators until you have tested them for 3-4 months on a smaller volume. We at Baltic Strategy & Development always recommend a trial period. Optimization is not about revolution, but about cutting unnecessary movements where money leaks.
By the way, remember the legal aspects. Each country has its own regulations regarding packaging recycling and environmental fees (such as LUCID in Germany). Returns logistics must be linked with these systems to avoid penalties, which in 2024 averaged 3,200 euros for lack of registration. A concrete plan allows you to avoid these traps and focus on what's most important: building a recognizable Polish brand abroad.
