How EsQualo encourages exchanges during the returns process to retain sales

EsQualo is a clothing brand for the fashion-conscious woman between the ages of 30-55. The fashion company wants women to open their closets feeling happy making them go through life beautifully dressed. They have been around for about 12 years and now have 2,500 outlets. With this growth, Bas Jansen (Owner EsQualo) faced a challenge, namely a growth in the number of returns. They have been solving this for a year now by stimulating exchanges during the returns process. Now they have both fewer returns and higher customer satisfaction. 

From manufacturing company to wholesaler

EsQualo is a family business and was founded some 40 years ago by Bas' parents. It started as a production company where the collections were sold to chain stores. When Bas Jansen took over the helm some 12 years ago, he phased that out and saw opportunities to roll out a wholesale strategy. That turned out to be a successful formula. Today, some 40 employees work there and the brand is in some 2,500 stores. 

Grow and maintain customer loyalty

EsQualo is a clothing brand for the fashion-conscious woman between the ages of 30-55. The beauty of the collection is that you can make it a little younger, more mature, or just more feminine. Jansen: "With that, we serve two kinds of audiences in the shopping street. So we are kind of the chameleon."

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Jansen says it owes the company's growth to the fact that they sell fun clothes at an affordable price that are easy to combine. In this way, the clothing brand wants women to open their closets feeling happy, making them go through life beautifully dressed.

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EsQualo also wants to continue to grow into the future. Jansen: "We are both commercially priced and commercial in terms of signature. We want as many outlets as possible. At the same time, we want to maintain customer loyalty that allows us to build customer relationships in a sustainable way."

The new generation: lazy and spoiled

The e-commerce market is evolving. Partly because of Corona, online shopping has taken off. According to Jansen, online stores have bought into this. Only now that the consumer's purchasing power has declined, online stores find themselves with too much inventory.

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In addition, we are dealing with a new generation. Jansen: "It is mainly the younger generation who are a bit lazier and more spoiled. They expect a smooth running process, good service, fast delivery and above all convenience."

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Finally, there are the technological developments that present challenges. Buy now pay later is one such example. It is a way to entice consumers to make as many purchases as possible. Jansen: "Indeed, we see that people are ordering online more easily. People simply order a few hundred euros' worth of clothing at 2 a.m. and it will be in their homes the next morning. They can try it on and send back what they don't like. Unfortunately, we did see a significant increase in the number of returns because of this." 

Reduce returns and capitalize on convenience

To meet these challenges, EsQualo looked at ways to reduce their returns while improving service. They ended up with Returnista's return solution.

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Jansen: "To reduce our returns, we initially needed insight. We worked with paper return forms for a long time, but did not have the resources to go through those forms. In other words, we didn't know why items were returned. With Returnista, we have a dashboard with all returns and return reasons." 

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Using this data, we noticed that the item often did not match how it was on the website. Therefore, EsQualo updated their product descriptions, photos and videos.

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Another solution for reducing returns EsQualo has found in the exchange service. This allows consumers to immediately order a different size the moment a return is reported with the reason "too big," or "too small. 

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Jansen: "That's really what I believe in, though. You create a sales moment in the returns process. In addition, it is service-oriented. They don't have to look for another size themselves. And while we are on the subject of service, I would also like to emphasize the home pick-up service. Through Returnista, consumers can choose a time to pick up the package themselves. For me, this is the icing on the cake as it responds to the wishes of the new generation." 

15% fewer returns and more sales

EsQualo has been using Returnista for just over a year now, with great results. The improved product descriptions, photos and videos have caused the return rate to drop from 47% to 32%.

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Concrete results about the exchange service Jansen cannot say yet: "We are still using the module for too short a time to see concrete results. But we expect to be able to convert between 10%-20% of returns into an exchange. That's revenue we would otherwise have lost."

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