Fashion retailer Love, Bonito faces more than 200 complaints over delayed orders, cites labour shortage

HOME-GROWN fashion retailer Love, Bonito has received more than 200 complaints over delayed orders from its recent mid-year sale held from May 29 to Jun 12.

In response to queries from The Business Times (BT), a Love, Bonito spokesperson said its warehouse in Singapore experienced a 400 per cent surge in orders – though no specific figures were provided – during its mid-year sale, compared with usual volumes.

“While efforts were made to forecast for the surge, the actual volume exceeded our estimations too,” the spokesperson said.

Of 20 markets to which Love, Bonito delivers, all except Indonesia are served by the Singapore warehouse and have thus seen delays.

Indonesia has its own warehouse facility and “is on track with local order fulfilment”, said the spokesperson. “As we scale, there are plans to review our regional fulfilment footprint in an effort to distribute the load and to further optimise our supply chain.”

Besides sale items, a “small proportion” of regular orders made after Jun 12 were affected, but these are on track to be delivered “within the stipulated timeframe” on the brand’s website.

As at Wednesday (Jun 21), more than 200 users had commented on Love, Bonito’s main Instagram account about unfulfilled orders from the two-week sale. The brand has other Instagram accounts for specific markets.

Most comments were about orders being delayed and the customer service team’s lack of responsiveness. Some demanded refunds, while others threatened to make a report to the Consumers Association of Singapore.

Several users said that parcels were shown as still being packed, weeks after the orders were placed. A few that received their deliveries reported missing items. Others said they were notified that items were out of stock only after they had placed orders and paid for them.

On Tuesday afternoon, the brand posted an apology on Instagram, saying it “recognised that the post-checkout experience was dissatisfactory, where many orders were delayed”.

“The overwhelming response received during the course of the sale surpassed our expectations, which has impacted the overall operations at the warehouse. This has resulted in unexpected extension of delivery timelines and with that, the unfavourable customer experience,” the post said.

The spokesperson told BT that “actions were immediately put in place to ensure that the orders are processed and dispatched as swiftly as possible”. These include hiring five times the usual manpower for warehouse operations to pack parcels and expedite pending orders.

The brand is “confident” of returning to usual operations in the next two weeks, and is extending the option of refunds to customers whose orders have been partially fulfilled or delayed, it added.

Founded in 2005 as an online blogshop, Love, Bonito now has 18 physical stores across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia and Hong Kong.

In recent Instagram comments, some customers claimed that before the mid-year sale, the brand already had delayed deliveries and its inventory was not up to date even during non-sales periods.

Asked about this, the spokesperson said: “There have been updates to the operational side of the business, which has unfortunately impacted the fulfilment of orders and delivery timelines for customers.”

The mid-year sale troubles arrive while the brand is ramping up its international expansion. In May, it had a month-long roving pop-up store across shopping malls in Manila. Last week, it launched a pop-up in New York, which will operate till end-2023.

According to media reports, the brand plans to open its first offline store in the US this year, and its first in the Philippines soon. It is also eyeing an initial public offering.

According to its latest financial results filed on Jun 9, 2023, Love, Bonito posted a net loss of S$11.1 million across all markets for its full year ended Dec 31, 2021, deeper than its loss of S$5.4 million the year before.

The brand told BT that its losses were due to upfront investments in hiring for its new overseas markets in 2021, namely Hong Kong, the Philippines and the US.

Meanwhile, it recorded a group revenue of S$44.4 million, up 41.4 per cent from S$31.4 million the year before.