‍Moss sought to transform its post-purchase process from a cost center to a competitive advantage. By leveraging Narvar’s automated returns portal and in-store return options, the Moss team could empower customers to find their ideal fit for their desired garments and become loyal fans in the process. 

Moss was established in London's Covent Garden in 1851, starting as two small shops leased by founder Moses Moss. Today, the company has grown exponentially with more than 110 locations, styling people everywhere for the moments that matter to them. Throughout its celebrated history, Moss has adapted to changing fashion trends and has continued to provide exceptional service and innovative products.

As a longtime customer of Narvar’s Returns & Exchanges solution, The Moss team was recently able to leverage a treasure trove of data through the platform to optimize its returns experience. 

Increasing customer loyalty through in-store returns and exchanges

Menswear and special occasion wear need to fit perfectly, so, naturally, Moss sees a significant number of returns due to fit and size. 

“Prior to Narvar, we simply included a return label in the outbound box, which gave us no visibility or control over the process. By partnering with Narvar, we are able to properly understand our returns and exchanges, and find opportunities—like driving more returning customers into our stores.” 

– Matthew Henton, Head of Ecommerce at Moss

Today, Moss employs the Narvar platform to promote in-store returns and exchanges for e-commerce orders, in addition to traditional return-by-mail options. Customers can go to one of the more than 110 brick-and-mortar locations in the United Kingdom to complete their return. 

The option for in-store returns allows sales associates to “save” the sale, helping customers find the right fit instead and potentially add complementary items to their purchase. In addition to Narvar’s technology promoting the program, its success is also attributed to thorough training and incentivization of the sales associates on the floor. 

"Most retailers see returns as a cost center, so when associates see an opened parcel come through the door, they feel resigned to process the return. After detailed training, associates now see an in-store return as an opportunity to retain a lifetime customer. This approach not only preserves the sales, but also turns potential returns into additional sales opportunities.”

– Matthew Henton, Head of Ecommerce at Moss

Moss saw measurable success from its new in-store returns and exchanges offering. This strategic initiative increased the rate of in-store returns from 35% to 55%—a 57% increase of in-store return selection—significantly enhancing the opportunity for customer retention and sales.

Gaining visibility and control through an automated returns process

This new revenue-driving program was possible, in part, due to the depth of data and analysis the Moss team captured in their Narvar Returns & Exchanges solution. 

In 2020, prior to Narvar, returns would be sent back to the originating distribution center (DC) with no warning or reason code, resulting in inventory mismanagement, an opaque returns and exchanges program, inability to capture and resolve reason codes, and lack of visibility into return trends. 

Moss then partnered with Narvar to power its post-purchase processes, gaining: 

• Control over the returns experience, with automated technology to initiate a return or exchange, generate a pre-paid return label, and process the exchange upon entry of the return into the mailstream. 
• Visibility into return and exchange trends, validating pen-and-paper math and hypotheses with real-time and historic data. 
• Access to actionable return reason codes, allowing the Moss team to reconcile sizing and marketing issues that arose. 

“With aggregate data on return reasons, we were able to make informed changes to certain product sizing information. We also were able to capture issues like photos not matching the product, jumping on them straight away to resolve. Ultimately, knowing this information and making these changes improves our customers’ experience and lowers our overall return rate.” 

– Matthew Henton, Head of Ecommerce at Moss

Turning an opaque post-purchase process into a competitive advantage

The partnership between Moss and Narvar has been instrumental in transforming Moss’ post-purchase customer experience into a strategic revenue driver. The Moss team most values Narvar’s solution-focused approach to their partnership.

"Narvar has been more than just a service provider; they have been a crucial partner in our continuous journey towards operational excellence and enhanced customer engagement.”

– Matthew Henton, Head of Ecommerce at Moss

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