Turning customer returns into profit and retention

The seventh annual FT 1000 ranking, compiled with data provider Statista, identifies those companies that have flourished and expanded, many benefiting as corporate and consumer demands shifted with the ebb and flow of the pandemic. In addition, the Financial Times ranking lists those European companies that achieved the highest compound annual growth rate in revenue between 2018 and 2021.

One of the companies in the FT 1000 ranking is Returnista (number 29). Returns are known to be a drag on online stores. Still, brothers Quinten and Olivier Muller of Returnista turn it around: instead, they see it as an opportunity to increase customer satisfaction, making buyers order more often.

Returnista streamlines the online returns process of five hundred online stores, including major players like Asos, Decathlon, and JoshV. Returns can be returned to an online store in a variety of ways, including by having them picked up at home by appointment.

Quinten Muller of Returnista: ‘We challenge the entire online market to take a critical look at all processes and optimize them using data. This positively impacts sales, costs, and the environment because data reduces the number of returns.’

The Muller brothers came up with Returnista when they stood in line again at a cigar store to return a pair of non-fitting shoes. Parcel carriers DHL and UPS take care of the logistics.

Returnista also wants to streamline refunds on returns. Transactions that now often take several days, leaving consumers with money in their pockets. After registering a return, a buyer immediately receives a coupon to continue shopping in the same online store. If the voucher is not redeemed within the return processing time, a customer still gets the money back. That’s clever thinking!

Walther Ploos van Amstel.

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