How VRG GRL turned returns into repurchases with Refundid

VRG GRL is an inclusive women's fashion brand built around one idea: Be free. Be cool. Be you. It went live with Refundid in July 2022, and Co-CEO Cale Suesskow says onboarding took less than a week, with barely any work from his team.

Online, customers can't try anything on before they buy. You can write the most detailed size guide going and some orders still won't fit. Cale was skeptical about instant refunds at first, because they cut against how he'd always thought about returns. What changed his mind was seeing a return as a chance to win the customer back and get them into the right size, rather than just a lost sale.

With Refundid, a VRG GRL customer gets their refund the moment they lodge a return, instead of waiting for the parcel to reach the warehouse. As Cale puts it, a customer can have their money back and be browsing for the right size in the time it would usually take just to send the first order back. It works a lot like an exchange, only faster.

That helps most during peak periods, when returns normally pile up quicker than the support team can clear them. The customer already has what they wanted before the return is even on its way, so the backlog never builds.

"We've seen a repurchase rate increase of 98% from people who return," Cale says, "and an improvement in repurchase time of around 47%." Customers who return through Refundid come back to buy again far more often, and in about half the time of a standard return.

The customer response caught them off guard too: some people called in to ask if it was for real, or where the catch was. For a brand about helping people find their fit, taking the friction out of returns is part of the point. VRG GRL now treats Refundid as more than a refund option and puts it up front as a reason to buy, because it takes the risk out of the order.

"Refundid has allowed us to create less barriers and less friction to our customers finding their perfect fit."

Cale Suesskow, Co-CEO, VRG GRL