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Every week, Michelle Madhok settles down in her bedroom, whips out her credit card — and gets her shop on.
“You’re laying in bed with your iPad and you’re shopping, and suddenly you’ve spent $2,000,” she says. When the packages arrive at her Upper West Side apartment a few days later, she is elated, if not a tad confused. (It’s not uncommon for the 39-year-old to experience “I Forgot I Ordered It” syndrome.) Madhok unpacks her loot — the maroon jeggings purchased at midnight that don’t quite hold up in the light of day; the sweater she bought in three different sizes — and jots them down, along with their return-by deadlines, on a sheet of paper kept near the computer. The goods are then hidden in the corner of Madhok’s bedroom, where they will sit until the end of the week, when she’ll return almost everything she’s bought.
Madhok is a successful entrepreneur, a devoted wife . . . and a self-confessed binge-and-purge shopper. She averages one hour a week sending back clothing — sometimes thousands of dollars’ worth — to Web sites like Net-a-Porter and Outnet.
But she’s got company; Madhok is just one of the growing number of women who are shopping bulimics — otherwise known as circular shoppers or chronic returners. Blame it on the convenience of online shopping, or busy New Yorkers who just don’t have time to deal with dressing rooms. Whatever the motivator, women would rather face the repercussions of speed-shopping than commit to a new outfit.
“I think there’s a lot more impulse-buying now, because you can just send it back,” says Madhok, CEO of shopping sites SheFinds.com, MomFinds.com and BrideFinds.com. “Most places are doing free shipping and free returns now. They are encouraging you to do it, because they hope once you get it there, you’ll keep it.” Sites like Zappos are even built on the model that people are going to buy — in order to return.
“We encourage customers to buy two sizes if they’re not sure,” says Marlene Kanagusuku, the 29-year-old customer-loyalty team manager at Zappos.
“We’ll take back as many returns as a particular customer may need,” adds Jeffrey Lewis, 29, a customer-loyalty team supervisor at Zappos. “Some of our customers who return the most items are our best customers.”
Lewis estimates that about 30 percent of Zappos merchandise is returned.
That’s no surprise to Sabrina Malen, 26, who is well-aware of the lure of a lenient return policy. “Places like Bloomingdale’s and the Gap and Banana Republic have great return policies,” she says. “I buy a ton of stuff and try it on at home with the shoes I want to wear it with and the lighting I like.”
And then what? “I spend the whole next day [sending back] returns and, in the loop of that, buying more,” admits Malen, who works in marketing. “I’m stuck in a vicious cycle of buy and return.”
Despite the two hours each weekend Malen devotes to returns, she’s accepted that this is just a way of life. Even when she shops in a store, the Midtown East resident refuses to try clothes on.
“I will not go into dressing rooms anymore, especially with the bedbugs thing,” she says, citing a fear of infestation.
Caitlin Burke’s problem isn’t dressing rooms or crowds — it’s her need for options.
Before the 26-year-old fashion editor appeared on one of the most epic “Wheel of Fortune” episodes in history (Burke was the one-letter wonder who solved “I’ve got a good feeling about this” with only the “L”), she went on a buying bender.
In the week leading up to the taping, Burke spent more than $1,000 on potential “Wheel of Fortune” outfits at Zara, J.Crew and major department stores.
“I just need to always be prepared,” says Burke, who founded the blog Dream and Dress.
“So for anything trip-related or event-related, I like to buy a ton of options.”
Despite lugging all her new loot to California for the taping of the show, Burke, who lives in Murray Hill, ended up wearing an outfit she already owned on the program.
She returned everything when she got back. “I had to, or else I wouldn’t be able to pay my rent!” she says with a laugh.
According to the National Retail Federation, specialty and department stores took back $185.48 million in returns in 2009. In 2010, it jumped to $193.8 million.
Joseph LaRocca, a senior adviser at NRF, has noticed brick-and-mortar stores loosening their return policies in an effort to remain competitive with online vendors like Zappos or Shopbop that offer no-fee, round-trip shipping and hassle-free returns.
“We’ve heard that it gives the standing stores a competitive advantage by doing so, and it makes it easier for the consumer and their shopping experience,” says LaRocca, 43. In the past three years, both Intermix and Calypso have changed their return policies to allow full refunds instead of store credit.
The sales personnel immediately noticed a change in their shoppers. “Oh my God, chronic returners are now 50 percent of our customers,” exclaims a sales associate at the Upper West Side Intermix. In May 2008, the chain adopted a new policy that gives cash back for returns two weeks after the sale.
Of course, some shopping bulimics are more desperate than others. Two years ago, one regular Intermix customer, who would drop upwards of $90,000 at the boutique in one month, checked into rehab for her shopping addiction.
Thanks to the store’s revised return policy, the former addict can still shop till she drops without consequence.
Last fall, the sales woman spent two hours helping her pick out five coats. They were all returned the following day.
“She said she didn’t have enough money for it,” the salesclerk says. “I don’t want to sell her anything. I feel bad for her.”
dschuster@nypost.com
Try these on for size
Want to shop without that troublesome obligation of, well, keeping all the clothes you’ve bought? There is another way . . .
* Try out Web site Rent the Runway, a Netflix for dresses. Ladies can rent frocks for a fraction of the retail cost (and with no commitment anxiety)! Plus, RTR (which launched in November 2009) helps protect stores from shopping bulimics, who can deplete shops’ inventory, especially during the holiday season.
“Our site takes away some of those problem customers from department stores who are essentially ‘renting the runway’ and, say, buying a bunch of dress options for New Year’s Eve and returning them all Jan. 3,” says Rent the Runway co-founder and West Village resident Jenny Fleiss, 27.
* Men can check out Trunk Club, which launched in December 2009. The company consults with a male customer to find out his style preferences, then ships a trunk of high-end clothes to his home. Shipping is free both ways, and everything is fully returnable.
“Some guys keep everything; some return the entire trunk,” says CEO Brian Spaly, 33.
“I think people would much rather try stuff on at their homes if they can. It’s just more comfortable — everything from the privacy and just being able to look at stuff and see how it fits into the rest of one’s wardrobe,” says Spaly, who lives in Chicago, where Trunk Club is based.
Trunk Club currently has hundreds of NYC subscribers.
* Try organizing a clothing swap with friends or participating in one of Clothingswap.com’s events, which take place throughout the country. It’s a fun way to get new stuff (and keep your bank account intact).