El Capote is a fashion brand that is committed to the quality of its garments, with a 100% Spanish symbol. Its comfortable and elegant clothes are characterised by bright colours and polka dot details that symbolise its small homage to flamenco. All their garments are carefully designed and made with cotton and fabrics of the highest quality.
The Challenge.
The brand, which began by selling its garments exclusively in the main fairs in Spain, had the objective of growing and reaching more people and, to do so, it was necessary to be digitalised, so in 2012, as well as opening its first shop in Madrid, they decided to create their website to start selling online.
Thanks to digitalisation, which allowed them to sell nationwide, and to the fact that their garments were becoming more and more well-known, they experienced a notable increase in activity. This made it necessary to devote more time to eCommerce in general. However, the increase in sales (especially if they are online) also leads to an increase in returns and exchanges. The manual management of reverse logistics processes led to a high dependency on customer service, which exponentially increased their workload, making it necessary to find a solution for this part of the logistics immediately and to be able to dedicate quality time to brand management.
El Capote needed a technological partner that could improve the entire cycle involved in reverse logistics, connect to its website in a simple way and speed up the processes by attending to all customer requests in an automated way.
- Our Approach.
Brands that manage returns via email require a full time person just for this activity, and this prevents them from generating higher value interactions with customers. At iF lastmile we understand that when it comes to managing a brand it is essential to have efficient time and task management, so we knew that our product was a perfect fit for El Capote's needs.
We implemented our returns portal on their website, through which customers themselves can initiate their request at any time and manage their exchange or return in less than a minute in a totally intuitive way, thus eliminating unnecessary interactions. On the other hand, we automate the generation of carrier labels, as well as the rescheduling of collections in the event of their failure. In the same way, we also automate the reimbursement to end customers, with the possibility to select between the preferred reimbursement method.
In addition, the brand has visibility and traceability of these exchanges and/or returns, being able to know the reasons for the requests by customers and thus collect information on the problems that may be causing such requests, they can also check the status of each of the processes in real time, etc.
- The Impact.
With the introduction of iF lastmile's software, El Capote has been able to automate the reverse logistics process and enable greater value generation by their customer service team. They have been able to reduce the average call centre handling time (a single manual return can take the team up to 50 minutes) and reduce their implicit costs. This saving is accompanied by profit retention driven by the incentive to exchange the product, with 50% of requests being for exchange rather than return.
In addition, El Capote's customers have increased their satisfaction with the brand thanks to the introduction of an intuitive portal that streamlines exchange and return requests. This satisfaction is further increased by the earlier receipt of refunds.
The El Capote team recognises the liberation iF lastmile has brought to their reverse logistics and the difference it has made in reducing costs. By working closely with the brand to deal with any issues, they have been able to offer customers an efficient and satisfactory returns and exchanges experience.
"By automating the processes we previously performed manually, we have achieved time and cost savings that have allowed us to take the burden of returns and exchanges off the brand's shoulders, freeing our team from the heavy burden of reverse logistics. Now, we can continue to focus on doing what we love, enjoying it, and controlling it with the same enthusiasm as always," concludes one of the founders.