Operations
16 January
Zappos adds box-free returns dropoff at Whole Foods
First, there was BOPIS. This partnership between Amazon companies signals the rise of BORIS.
Photo by Brittani Burns on Unsplash
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Two Amazon subsidiaries are teaming up to provide customers with more return options.
The news: Footwear and apparel-focused ecommerce platformZappos.com is launching a new returns service that allows customers to turn items back in without a box or label. Plus, returns can be dropped off in-person at Whole Foods Market stores nationwide.
How it works:
Customers start a Zappos return process through the company’s system. If it qualifies for dropoff, they will see the “Label Free Box Free” option populate in the menu.
Items can then be taken to a Whole Foods Market location in the original packaging, without a box.
Customers drop off an item at the customer service desk or return kiosk at a Whole Foods, and show the return code to an associate.
Key quote from Zappos.com CEO Scott Schaefer: “Being a customer-first company is in Zappos' DNA. As our customers' needs evolve, we evolve with them to ensure we're exceeding expectations…With Label Free Box Free Returns, we're excited to not only be better serving our customers, but also to have found a natural partner in Whole Foods Market.”
A returns pioneer: Any return innovation from Zappos is notable, given its place in creating the norms of ecommerce policies that are frequently used today. Even before it was acquired by Amazon in 2009, Zappos pioneered free shipping and free returns. These soon became widely standardized practices for a new generation of digital brands and retailers that were focused on creating a great customer experience, and easing processes for shoppers who couldn’t touch and feel an item before they bought it. Zappos still has a return policy that stands out: Returns are still free, and can be shipped from anywhere in the U.S. within 365 days of purchase.
Today’s returns conundrum: The new partnership comes as brands and retailers are facing dueling priorities when it comes to returns. For one, they want to continue creating a great customer experience, especially as logistics innovation opens up new options. At the same time, returns are piling up. The return rate for the 2022 holiday season grew 63% over the prior year, Salesforce found. This challenges the capacity of logistics systems to process returns, and it can also eat into profits that are already being pressured by a tough macroeconomic environment.
How this partnership provides an answer: Let’s break down Zappos’ new service:
For the customer, box-free and label-free returns reduce hassle. Customers don’t have to find a box and pack it in order to send an item back.
Dropoff also adds ease. In one sense, Whole Foods dropoff does add a step for the consumer, as it requires them to bring an item to a location. But in the context of every day life, it can create a measure of convenience. Dropping off a return at the grocery store saves a trip to the post office or store. This can help customers to combine errands. We already have BOPIS, or Buy Online Pickup in Store. A new wave of returns dropoff is ushering in BORIS, or Buy Online Return in Store.
For Zappos, which is the retailer, there are a number of logistics advantages. The dropoff saves a step of having to rely on carrier pickup. The company can consolidate returns at Whole Foods locations, and plan routing accordingly. It also gives Zappos branding at Whole Foods stores, which could help the company stand out in customers’ minds when they go to make a future purchase.
For Whole Foods, it gives people another reason to visit stores, where they may be likely to buy a grocery item while they are there. Zappos is helped in this case by its alignment with Amazon, which also has returns dropoff at Whole Foods. Dropoff of sneakers and apparel is another way that Whole Foods is growing beyond its core business of selling grocery items to becoming a hub of activity under Amazon’s orbit.
The bottom line: With pickup, box-free and dropoff policies being adopted, there’s a new wave of returns innovation taking shape. Zappos wants to continue to be on the forefront and this partnership will help. For more examples, check out The Current’s recent look at new policies from Amazon, FedEx and DoorDash.Subscribe to The Current Newsletter
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Shopper Experience
08 June
AI, but make it fashion: Rent the Runway, Stitch Fix look generative
"Fashion ecommerce is one of the most cumbersome customer experiences that exists," said Rent the Runway CEO Jennifer Hyman.
Photo by Daniel G. Wells III, used under a Creative Commons license.
The rise of generative AI is bringing with it a groundswell of interest and concern about how the capability to automatically synthesize information and create something new will change how we work.
Given that AI will sit within the architecture of our digital lives, it’s also worth considering how the technology will introduce new tools for other aspects of life, as well.
For two ecommerce innovators in the apparel space, it’s a time to explore how it will transform shopping. Rent the Runway is set to roll out new AI-powered search capabilities, while Stitch Fix is drawing on a long history with data science and machine learning to personalize the inventory buying process.
Here’s a look at the initiatives underway at each company, and their visions for the future:
Rent the Runway: From search to concierge
Rent the Runway is putting a focus on the customer experience this year as it seeks to retain more subscribers and continue a yearslong push toward profitability.
This is resulting in the introduction of a variety of new initiatives, from the addition of an extra item to all orders to speeding up page load times. Yet as CEO Jennifer Hyman zooms out, she sees change being necessary on an industry-wide level in fashion. Beyond adding new features, AI can play a transformational role.
“I think that fashion ecommerce is one of the most cumbersome customer experiences that exists. You are searching through pages and pages and pages of content to find the items that you like and no one likes doing this,” Hyman told analysts on the company’s earnings call this week. “As an industry that still is selling physical products, AI is going to be -- fashion is going to be a major beneficiary as an industry.”
As a rental service, Rent the Runway has a distinct niche in fashion that lends itself to AI’s advantages, Hyman said. As opposed to a retailer that a consumer may visit a couple of times a year, RTR is used frequently by customers. So Hyman said there are opportunities to turn Rent the Runway into a “utility” by creating a more seamless experience.
This frequent use also provides a “highly unique” dataset, Hyman said. They know what a customer is planning to do based on what they rented. They know whether she liked or disliked an item, and many customers are reviewing 10 items per month. They know her size and how an item fits. This can be put to work in tools that allow customers to ask questions, and find answers.
The first application that combines AI and these advantages will appear in the coming weeks, when Rent the Runway plans to launch a beta of AI-driven search. The tool will allow customers to search for common terms or use cases for an item. So a person will be able to write “Miami vibe,” “‘clambake in Nantucket,” or “tropical motifs,” and receive results about what to wear for such an occasion.
The goal is to help customers sift through the endless aisle, and instantly finds what's right for them.
“I think that across all fashion sites, all over the world, the way that people are searching for product is fairly vanilla, it's fairly functional, right?" Hyman said. "You can go to a site and search for a T-shirt, you can go to a site and search for a black-tie gown. The fact that we're going to be able to enable our customers to search how they actually want to use this closet in the cloud, to search for items to wear to my beach bonfire this weekend, that is a completely different way to search, and I think that it really brings out the value proposition of what a closet in the cloud is all about."
Hyman sees this as a first step in the company using AI models to improve the product experience, and expects more tools to appear in the coming months. RTR is also introducing an SMS concierge experience for onboarding that allows customers to text with a member of the customer service team. The company is already exploring ways that AI can be incorporated into that tool, as well.
In the longer term, Hyman said the company has a vision that will leverage AI to allow customers to communicate with Rent the Runway asynchronously across different modalities, and have a stylist that is constantly available to recommend items, pick out new inventory and answer questions.
“If we are utilizing AI appropriately over the next few years, I see no reason why someone even has to come to our website,” Hyman said.
Stitch Fix: Inventory buying and beyond
Stitch Fix has long married AI with human curation to provide outfits on a subscription basis.
“For years, we have utilized capabilities in generative AI, injecting scores and language into our personalization engines and, more recently, automatically generated product descriptions,” CEO Katrina Lake told analysts. “We have also developed and implemented more advanced proprietary tools such as outfit generation and personalized style recommendations that create a unique and exciting experience we believe is unmatched in the market.”
A new area where the company is applying AI is inventory buying.
“We have historically utilized a number of tools to make data-informed decisions with our inventory purchases,” Lake said. “Now, directly leveraging our personalization algorithms, we have developed a new tool that creates an exciting paradigm shift, which will utilize math scores at the client level to drive company-level buying actions. We expect the clarity of demand signals at the individual client level to drive more proactive and efficient inventory decisions as a company. And because of this, we expect to see higher success rates on fixes and drive increases in keep rates and [average order value] over time.”
Early results are promising. When compared with existing buying tools, testing showed a 10% lift in keep rate and AOV. By the end of this quarter, Stitch Fix expects 20% of all purchase orders to be algorithmically informed.
With experience using AI and a team in place to build, Stitch Fix is investing in the technology. Like Rent the Runway, it also has a unique dataset that offers an immediate advantage.
Here are Lake’s thoughts about how Stitch Fix’s AI strategy:
One of the things that I love about our experience is that we have generative AI that's really in more of a visual format. And so, the outfits that we have in our app, those are actually taking into account your preferences, what we know about you, and then in combination with what we know that you own in your closet. And to be able to kind of continue to push that technology and to be able to continue to give people more value in their experience with Stitch Fix, that's a really good example of, I think, a capability that is, firstly, really aligned with our capabilities around data and personalization and really unique to us.
And then I think it's also really compelling because I really think that pushes us as we think about what that addressable market is. I think if we can push outfits to be something that can be an asset to everybody, I think that is a universal thing that people would love to be able to have, is to have access to advice on a daily basis around what to wear and how to wear it.
While these are distinct companies, their plans lead us to a common conclusion: While the talk around generative AI might be new, many technology-forward companies already have assets sitting inside them that can be leveraged to build new tools. Uncover what’s already there, learn about the AI’s capabilities and develop a solution that's right for your organization. Then, talk to customers to determine how to improve it. It might mean commerce looks different, but that’s okay. The point is to create a better experience.
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