Princess Polly overhauls its return process to boost average order value, revenue, and customer loyalty

Born out of a beachside apartment on the Gold Coast of Australia in 2010, Princess Pollylaunched its thriving U.S. operation in 2019. Today, Princess Polly is one of the fastest-growing online fashion brands in both countries. Focused heavily on Gen Z, the brand strives to be the go-to shop for the newest looks—all while prioritizing an unparalleled customer experience. Since migrating to Shopify Plus, Princess Polly has seen:

• 55% reduction in out-of-stock rates year-over-year with instant exchange function
• $1.23 average increase in upsell per return through Shop Now feature

Challenge

With a massive following and customer base, Princess Polly wanted to offer customers the simplest return process possible. Returns are one of the most fragile interactions a brand has with its customers—done poorly, the process can hurt customer loyalty and attack profit margins.

Knowing this, the brand set out to optimize their return platform. "We're always looking for ways to create less pressure points for customers", says Alexandria Collis, Director of Operations at Princess Polly. "Making returns difficult shouldn't be the goal—there's actually a real opportunity to create loyalty through the return experience."

Solution

Having migrated from Adobe Commerce to Shopify Plus, the team at Princess Polly turned to Shopify Plus Technology Partner, Loop, for help. Loop helps brands deliver the ideal post-purchase experience with an automated return platform. The on-store API even enables customers to shop directly on the brand’s website during their return, using their return credit.

Shopify's API-led platform and thriving app ecosystem makes integrations like Loop simple, with a seamless data handoff between front and back-office operations. Because of this, Princess Polly is able to access measurable insights into their returns and consistent customer feedback. This data allows the brand to identify areas for improvement across various business functions—often using the insights to pivot strategies where necessary.

Critically, the Loop integration is still customizable to meet the unique needs of the brand. "The team at Princess Polly has a growth mindset and is completely customer-obsessed—two of the many reasons we love working with Shopify brands,” says Hannah Bravo, Chief Operating Officer at Loop. We've built a partnership that allows us to grow together, aligned on mutual and bold goals, but nimble enough to test and learn from new strategies and experiences."

Results

With the help of Shopify Plus and Loop, Princess Polly has been able to create widespread operational efficiencies around the returns process to dramatically improve the customer experience. Not only has this boosted customer satisfaction and loyalty, it's also driving more business—and incidentally, reducing return rates.

In particular, Loop’s Shop Now functionality allows customers to head back to the website during the return process to exchange their item for another product on the website. This has increased revenue as well as average order value (AOV) by keeping customers invested in Princess Polly's products during the return process.