Case Study: Tobi
Client Profile
Tobi has delivered West Coast style and laid-back attitude to over 1.5 million Tobi customers since 2007.
The company is committed to bringing customers the trendiest fashions fast from their warehouse to their customers’ doorstep.
Business Goals
Improve customers’ visibility into tracking packages while minimizing impact on customer service
Benefits
15% reduction of inbound calls related to returns
Improved inventory planning to expedite returns to re-sale
Branded reminder emails create another touch point with the customer, delivering better customer care and additional marketing opportunities.
Improved visibility helps customer service more easily assist customers during the returns process and creates a better overall experience.
Overview
California-based online fashion retailer Tobi provides fashionable, value-priced clothes designed for teens and college-aged consumers. Tobi's customers have always loved the retailer's free returns policy, but returns can be expensive — as any retailer knows, free returns are never really free. Tobi struggled to control costs with the bulk rate provided by their legacy supplier, the U.S. Postal Service.
Business Challenge
Tobi’s limited order tracking abilities prompted frequent customer inquiries, many of them about returns. This lack of clarity around the returns process left customers wondering when they would receive a refund or replacement item, creating a negative customer experience. The Tobi team also struggled with the lack of visibility when expediting customer queries.
Solution
As a growing online retailer, Tobi prided itself on its commitment to its customers, but needed to find a way to control their escalating return costs. They engaged Pitney Bowes, who implemented a solution for customers to download and print a SmartLabel® from the newly introduced Shipment Manager™ portal, put it on their return and drop it in the mail at home, at work or at any U.S. Post Office.Next, Pitney Bowes helped Tobi implement its Transit Trigger® program, which sends automated emails containing tracking information to customers upon the first scan of the SmartLabel. This allows customers to follow their return in-transit and have a better idea of when their return will make it back to Tobi’s distribution center. Since it’s not unusual for customers to begin the returns process then forget to take the final steps and drop the return in the mail, a branded email reminder is sent to the customer if the printed label hasn’t been scanned within three days.Along with improved visibility on the customer side, the Shipment Manager portal allows the Tobi customer service team to track in-transit returns and gives them the ability to easily generate reports.
Benefits
Within a year of engaging Pitney Bowes to overhaul its returns process, Tobi was experiencing a 10 percent reduction in the cost of return packages. “It is our mission to provide great clothes at great value, and offering free returns is a huge part of the full customer experience,” said Mat Ziser, VP of Operations at Tobi. “Pitney Bowes has helped us control costs in a way that will help us scale. And having access to Pitney Bowes Consulting Services to troubleshoot a challenge or analyze data has helped us continue to make the right strategic decisions as our business expands.” The Transit Trigger program and Pitney Bowes’ SmartLabel technology has given customers more visibility into their returns, resulting in a 15 percent reduction of inbound calls related to returns. Shoppers now have more visibility and touch points into the entire ordering, shipping and returns process, enriching their overall customer experience. “We’ve only just begun to track the benefits we’ve seen from our new returns program,” said Ziser. “Pitney Bowes has become a trusted partner that’s proven it can help us achieve our main mission — to always provide our customers the most enjoyable and seamless experience possible.”