Swap saves AX Paris millions in revenue by streamlining their returns process

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Fashion’s big returns issue

AX Paris, a UK-based fashion retailer with a cult-like following, has been making beautiful, affordable women's clothing for years. As the brand scaled, returns and exchanges became a vast, inevitable piece of the brand’s operation. Unfortunately for AX Paris, the eCommerce team struggled to manage a high volume of returns, leading to lost revenue and frustrated customers.

In this case study with AX Paris:

1. How AX Paris faced enormous challenges given their old return systems
2. How Swap enabled them to both streamline their returns process and retain more revenue by upselling their customers in creative ways

More returns, more problems

Make more money, they said. It will be great, they said.

But it was getting bad.

AX Paris had all these orders, with a seemingly normal amount of returns, but it became overwhelming. One of the hottest internet brands in women’s fashion couldn’t keep up with all that heat.

Look, returns are a part of retail. The fact is, if you sell clothing, you’re gonna get returns. The problem comes when you don’t have a way to process those returns.

And AX Paris' process was one big, fat headache. They were:

• Drowning in old-school spreadsheets
• Processing times took weeks
• Customers were annoyed
• And ultimately, AX Paris was leaving money on the table

And the returns were only part of the problem. Customers couldn’t even exchange existing pieces for new ones, or take store credit instead of cash.

It was a dark time for AX Paris, operationally speaking. They knew they needed to find a solution to stop the angry customers from making retail decisions they’d later regret.

Then Swap entered the chat.

Swap came thru

Working with Swap was a no-brainer from day 1. 

The team is super tight and hard-working, and they act more like a friend than anything else. AX Paris got a dedicated account manager to personally onboard them through every step, and as a result, AX Paris immediately recouped all that lost time and revenue they didn’t realise existed.

Swap came in clutch because their product is actually easy to use. They’ve never tested it on a toddler, but pretty sure they could learn how to use it. 

Making sure that AX Paris customers could return and exchange products without having to manually contact customer service was key.

Swap delivered exactly that and more. 

Securing the $$

And Swap doesn’t play around. 

Since AX Paris ditched their in-house system for Swap, AX Paris has turned on the money machine, bringing in millions in net-new retained revenue through their gift card and exchange for anything features.

And that’s just in 2023. 

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Other highlights to shoutout:

• 130% increase in AXP’s customers choosing store credit instead of cash
• AX Paris' CX team has gotten 2-3 minutes of time back per request
• AX Paris is seeing an upsell of £3.50 per transaction from items initially returned

Why Swap clearly rules

So, yeah, the product is easy to use, but AX Paris has been most impressed with Swap’s collaborative approach to CX. Whether reporting an issue or a new feature request, the Swap team is always on standby and ready to make it happen.

Overall, it’s been a smashing success. Swap has helped AX Paris:

• Streamline its returns process
• Get time back in their day
• Kept more money in the business; and
• Created happy customers who actually want to use a returns product

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