Another Shoe Brand Cooperates With VOLUMENTAL To Effectively "Reduce Returns" Is The Major Trend Of 2024 Retail Industry!

　　 From cross-country to hiking, nothing is more important for outdoor lovers than a pair of shoes that fit. Especially in the period of fierce competition in the retail industry, the problem of product return due to improper fit will bring great trouble to shoe retailers. Against the background of such retail trend, as a retailer that attaches importance to the fit of shoes, Outdoor & Cycle Concepts Limited (O&CC) has carried out in-depth cooperation with VOLUMENTAL, making use of FitTech in the industry ™ Platform lifting Shoes Fit. In this cooperation, O&CC introduced VOLUMENTAL's artificial intelligence foot scanner, which has achieved impressive results in the pilot stage, reducing product returns in pilot stores by 350%. Through the case of O&CC, we can deeply discuss how the innovative foot scanning technology can change the way customers look for comfortable shoes, so as to effectively reduce returns.

　　 The power of data supports O&CC to reduce returns by 350%

O&CC is Cotswold Outdoor, Runners The parent company of Need and Snow+Rock focuses on helping customers make appropriate choices in outdoor and running equipment. Shoes play a vital role in almost all outdoor sports and activities, so after testing in relevant stores, O&CC Choose to provide VOLUMENTAL foot scanner service in all its stores. By using cutting-edge technology and artificial intelligence data, these scanners can identify shoes and sizes suitable for each customer and recommend suitable products for customers.

In the early stage of the project, O&CC conducted pilot projects in five locations. Compared with the same period last year, the return of products in the store decreased by 28% after the VOLUMENTAL foot scanner was used. In contrast, the return rate of stores without scanners has only decreased by 8%, and the return rate of pilot stores has greatly improved by 350%. These figures are excellent proof of the significant impact of VOLUMENTAL technology on customer satisfaction and reducing product returns.

Due to the great success of the pilot, O&CC has now launched the VOLUMENTAL foot scanner service in its 28 stores, and plans to increase the number of scanners in the future. VOLUMENTAL's foot scanner provides customers with detailed 3D scanning data of their feet, and specifically recommends appropriate products in the store for their feet. Not only that, these data will also provide reliable basis for customers to purchase shoes online and offline in the future. The expansion of this business further ensures that more outdoor enthusiasts can benefit from the cutting-edge fitting technology and enhance their overall shopping experience.

Alper, co-founder and CEO of VOLUMENTAL Aydemir said that O&CC has a high reputation in the outdoor retail industry, and he was particularly excited about the cooperation: "VOLUMENTAL is happy to be part of the excellent customer experience of O&CC, which not only improves the service in the store, brings surprises to customers, but also enhances its online and offline omni channel sales service. More importantly, we can help their customers find the perfect fit outdoor shoes no matter online or offline shopping. "

The success of the cooperation between VOLUMENTAL and O&CC won them the recognition of the final of the "technology use" category of the Drapers Footwear Award in 2023. This recognition further consolidated the revolutionary influence of their cooperation in the field of shoe comfort. In the future, O&CC will continue to be committed to guiding customers, helping them make appropriate choices in outdoor and running equipment, and the cooperation with VOLUMENTAL will raise this brand commitment to a new height.

　　 Three strategies help effectively reduce "returns"

As we all know, the surge in shoe returns did not happen overnight, but was the result of slow development: to some extent, it was a by-product of the transition from offline to online shopping, because when shopping online, customers could not try it on before buying. The reduction of this trial experience leads to the return of goods. On the one hand, it highlights the problem of inconsistent shoe sizes on the market and on the other hand, it also leads to the problem of customers buying multiple pairs of shoes of the same style and different sizes for trial wear at one time, which undoubtedly leads to higher return rates. When customers are uncertain in choosing shoes, the convenient return without reason solves their worries. Although unintentional, retailers encourage the uncertainty of shopping. When we think about it carefully, we will find that this problem is not only limited to e-commerce, but also the inconsistency between size and fitting experience has a great impact on customer satisfaction and sales efficiency of stores.

VOLUMENTAL's research shows that about 40% of the shoe sizes are inconsistent with the size chart provided by the brand, which often leads to returns, higher costs and waste. In order to reduce the impact of the gap between the size chart and the actual shoes, retailers need to create personalized, data-driven shopping experience, and strive to match the unique foot shape of customers with appropriate shoes. The brand should not only focus on the sales of a pair of shoes, but also pay attention to the return of each pair of shoes and whether each customer is comfortable to wear, because one purchase of comfortable shoes will lead to repeated purchases. Fundamentally, what needs to be changed is the relationship between shoe retailers and customers. If shoe retailers want to reduce returns in 2024, the following three primary strategies need to be implemented urgently:

　 1. Education market

Retailers who can provide better product information for customers will benefit greatly. Today's customers have more choices than ever before, which also makes them more picky: if your competitors list accurate size, material and sustainability information on the product page, you should do better. The more information and guidance provided, the lower the risk of customers choosing unsatisfactory products.

　 2. Predict customer demand

How much do you know about your customers? What do they really want? You need to abandon intuition and adopt a data-driven approach. Not only on the website, but also through physical stores to collect and analyze data, better understand your customers, and use this information to provide a more pleasant shopping experience.

　 3. Exceed customer expectations

It is not the customer's responsibility to find comfortable shoes and products: when choosing goods, they will also face the pressure from the salesperson, the time wasted by repeated trials and confusion caused by inaccurate size charts. You can make their life simple: show them the shoes that fit their feet, and the sizes that fit them, and win their re purchase.

For the above three aspects, there are a variety of tools on the market to help retailers solve a single problem. VOLUMENTAL FitTech ® The solution can help retailers and brands solve these three problems at the same time: By using advanced technologies including computer vision, purchase data and artificial intelligence algorithms, VOLUMENTAL can provide accurate and personalized size recommendations, ultimately improving consumer satisfaction, and minimizing the uncertainty and return rate of online shopping.

　　 VOLUMENTAL He is the world's 3D foot scanning technologist, working with New Balance, Red Wing, ECCO, Fleet Feet and other brands have cooperation. VOLUMENTAL recommends products through data endorsement. On average, VOLUMENTAL in store scanners can reduce product returns by 18% and increase sales by 20%. VOLUMENTAL believes that for brands and retailers with truly forward-looking thinking, comfortable fit is a great competitive advantage - our products are currently deployed in more than 3000 stores in more than 55 countries, and it has been proved that shoe brands and retailers also agree with this view and constantly improve to provide customers with personalized comfortable shoes.

VOLUMENTAL platform has been upgraded to a retail technology for consumer shopping and omni channel marketing by retailers/brands. You can visit the official website or follow the official WeChat to learn more about shoe retail solutions and start to tackle the challenges immediately!