Hammitt model holding a handbag.

How Loop and CB/I Digital Helped Hammitt Retain Over $583K On Returns

Learn how Hammitt partnered with CB/I Digital to drive brand growth, then partnered with Loop to handle growing returns—and build upsell value and customer retention.

Industry
Accessories 

Previous returns solution
Manual

Key features
Shop Now
Bonus Credit
Advanced Exchanges



For over fifteen years, Hammitt has sold luxury leather handbags, and among the reasons their customers love their products are that Hammitt uses high quality, supple leather and gorgeous jewelry-grade hardware to build bags, purses, and wallets that are built for style and convenience. 

Their bags are as functional as they are beautiful, and they come with a lifetime guarantee that customers swear by—some diehard Hammitt fans still use bags from the original designer that predate the company itself, at 20-25 years old. 

Hammitt bags are sold in high-end department stores like Von Maur and Dillards, in over 500 boutiques across the country, as well as in their own physical brick and mortar store in Manhattan Beach. When Hammitt ventured into the world of ecommerce, they leveraged Shopify and CB/I, their high-achieving digital advertising agency, to begin selling their luxurious and highly sought-after bags online.

“Hammitt is an amazing luxury handbag brand, from the product all the way to the people we get to work with on a daily basis,” says Mike Le, COO and Cofunder at CB/I Digital.

“Part of what makes the Hammitt team so special is that they are incredibly customer centric and very sophisticated and open when it comes to adopting new technologies.”

“Loop is a perfect example of technology that allows us a performance marketing agency to continue to acquire new customers, with the confidence that Loop can help manage the rest.” 

Since adopting Loop, the brand has seen:

  • CX Time Savings = $16,535
  • Retained Revenue = $583,981
  • New Revenue (Upsell Revenue) = $37,822 
  • Upsell Revenue Per Return = $5.32
Hammitt model holding a handbag.

Challenge

CB/I Digital is a digital advertising agency that functions as an extension of the companies they serve with a true partnership mindset.

CB/I Digital began working with Hammitt in early 2021, consistently growing revenue by over 10% a month and doubling their sales in a year (from $11M to over $20M).

As Hammitt’s ecommerce revenue scaled, returns and exchanges also scaled, which became a huge cost issue for Hammitt. 

Before partnering with Loop, Hammitt processed all their returns manually, which was slow and tedious for both Hammitt’s team and their shoppers.

Jenna Guilck, Marketing Director at Hammitt, describes the manual returns process that the brand used before working with Loop as challenging because of the “immense time spent by [the Hammitt] team on returns, the lack of ease for [their] customers, and the lack of options for customers,” like self-serve exchanges, for example.

Because Hammitt’s return policy wasn’t user-friendly or automated, Hammitt was also losing revenue retention opportunities and chances to upsell at the point of return.

“Loop has helped us to extend a truly elevated experience to every customer, allowing them to navigate returns or exchanges with little friction and plenty of options,” says Gulick. 

Hammitt model holding a handbag.

Solution

With CB/I Digital and Hammitt placing a greater focus on maintaining profitability in 2022 and beyond, Hammitt partnered with Loop to automate their returns processes so that CB/I Digital could help the brand capture more revenue and retain customers during the post-purchase experience.

Some of the key benefits they discovered with Loop include: 

1) Additional revenue generation through exchanges and upsells

By making the returns process more intentional and efficient on every return, Loop allows Hammitt the ability to retain more revenue and encourage greater upsell opportunities on exchanges and returns. 

“I really like the exchange incentive,” says Marissa Merced, a Customer Concierge Lead at Hammitt. “I’m all about increasing sales, and it’s very cool that we can even upsell [on a return].”

With CB/I Digital’s help, Hammitt’s upsell value this year surpassed $37,000, which is well over benchmark for the accessories industry.

These upsell and revenue retention opportunities help CB/I Digital hit their sales goals on the back end by enabling Hammitt to keep more of their money—or even generate further profits—during returns.

“As a growth agency working with so many fashion brands, we know that returns can be 15%-25% of sales, so we’re always on the lookout for a tool that can improve the return-process efficiency, as well as the customer experience,” said Le. “We’re really happy working with Loop and their team, and have seen great results that have enhanced brand loyalty, and reduced the cost of returns and exchanges.” 

2) Greater customer options during a return

Another benefit of using Loop is that Hammitt’s very loyal customer base can take advantage of incentives like Bonus Credit during the post-purchase experience to expand their collection of Hammitt bags, wallets, and purses.

Because Hammitt’s reputation is so strong among its fans, shoppers are delighted when they hear that making an exchange for a product that wasn’t quite what they expected can actually garner them an extra discount on an additional item.

“I think it’s really helpful because we have so many different sizes, so if somebody buys a Daniel Medium, but they think it’s just a little too small for them, that extra incentive is just amazing to go toward the large size,” says EmmaLee Nixon, Concierge Lead at Hammitt.

“They already have that thought in their brain, so [with Bonus Credit] they’re like, ‘Oh, great, now I get an extra 15%? Maybe I’ll get a wallet, too.’”

3) Reduced customer support workload

While Hammitt’s customer support team still handles tricky returns for their customers as a way to offer a premium shopper experience, Loop’s automated features greatly reduce the customer support workload on Hammitt’s end.

One of the ways that Loop saved Hammitt over $16,000 in customer support work hours this year was through its seamless integration with Shopify. 

“Loop is really well integrated with Shopify,” says Eliza Gray, Customer Concierge Lead at Hammitt. “You can see the entire order history, transaction history, and exchange if an item was exchanged. We can see customer behavior on Loop, which not every software does, so I really appreciate that.”

Want to know how Loop can make returns better for you and your shoppers? Book a demo today.