Baukjen is a British responsible womenswear brand — part of Izzie & Ollie Ltd, which also operates Isabella Oliver, a leading maternity fashion label. Built on a commitment to sustainability, quality, and considered design, Baukjen creates clothing for modern women who want style without compromise: organic cotton, European-made pieces, and a community that shops with intention.
With a loyal DTC customer base, a physical catalogue, and growing international reach, Baukjen’s operational infrastructure needed to match the premium, service-led experience the brand promises. Returns were the weak link — and Swap fixed it.
The challenge
A returns nightmare, and a previous provider that wasn’t keeping up
Before Swap, Baukjen’s returns operation was held together by spreadsheets and manual effort. The warehouse handled the physical side, the customer service team worked from their own records, and financial refunds ran through a separate OMS — three disconnected pieces that created friction at every step.
International returns were even harder. There was no proper system in place, which made managing them particularly difficult and resource-heavy. The biggest frustration, as the team described it, was the sheer time it took to process refunds and exchanges — constant back-and-forth, manual input, and no clear way to move faster without adding headcount.
- Entirely manual returns process: Warehouse, customer service, and finance systems were completely disconnected — each return required multi-step manual handling across all three.
- No international returns infrastructure: Without a proper system for cross-border returns, managing international customers was particularly burdensome and inconsistent.
- Slow refund and exchange handling: The back-and-forth required to process refunds and exchanges was time-consuming and left too much room for delays and errors.
- No exchange capability at scale: Without a streamlined exchange pathway, customers who wanted to swap sizes or styles defaulted to refunds — taking revenue out of the business.
“Our returns process was completely manual. It was time-consuming and left a lot of room for inefficiencies.”
Gregg Wyatt
House of Baukjen
The Solution
Automation, flexibility, and a genuine partnership.
Baukjen chose Swap Returns after evaluating options and finding that the combination of platform capability, pricing transparency, and account management support stood out. The initial setup took around three to four months to feel fully embedded — not because of Swap, but because of Baukjen’s own in-house system setups. The value, however, was there from day one.
Swap brought together the three disconnected parts of Baukjen’s returns process into a single portal — automating the repetitive, giving customers control, and surfacing the data the team needed to make smarter decisions.
- A unified returns portal
Swap replaced the spreadsheet-and-OMS patchwork with a single portal handling refunds, exchanges, and store credit. The team no longer needs to manually process each return across multiple systems. - Native exchange functionality
Customers can now browse and select alternative products directly within the returns portal — making exchanges as frictionless as refunds, and keeping revenue in the business that would previously have walked out the door. - International returns, solved
Swap provided the infrastructure Baukjen lacked for cross-border returns — giving international customers the same seamless experience as domestic ones, without additional manual overhead. - Real-time policy control
Return periods, fees, and eligibility rules can be updated instantly without developer support — giving the team the agility to respond to seasonal peaks, promotions, and operational changes. - Dedicated account management
Swap’s account management team has been responsive, supportive, and proactively involved — offering recommendations that directly contributed to the year-on-year improvements in retained and exchange revenue.
“It was beneficial from day one — it just took a little time for us to fully embed it into our workflow.”
Gregg Wyatt
House of Baukjen
The Results
Faster. Leaner. More revenue retained.
- ~35% increase in retained revenue Peak 2025 saw approximately 35% more retained revenue compared to peak 2024 — a direct result of embedding Swap’s recommendations and optimising the returns workflow.
- ~133% growth in exchange revenue. Exchange revenue more than doubled over the same period — driven by a customer experience that made choosing an alternative product as easy as requesting a refund.
The headline numbers reflect a deeper operational shift. What were once heavy, time-consuming processes are now, as Gregg described it, “straightforward and effortless.” The customer service team has reclaimed hours previously lost to manual admin. Customers have noticed the difference too — the returns portal has been well-received, particularly the ability to browse and select alternatives for exchanges directly within the portal.
The 133% growth in exchange revenue tells a specific story: when exchanging is easy, customers choose it. And when customers choose exchanges over refunds, revenue stays in the business. That shift — from a manual, refund-heavy process to an automated, exchange-friendly one — is the core of what Swap delivered for Baukjen.
