International Retailer
In January 2021 CMSPI began working with a large international apparel retailer with a robust online presence and hundreds of stores worldwide. The company was consistently on Fortune’s fast-growing companies list in its early years, and some have even likened it to creating a global fashion phenomenon.
Similar to what other retailers experienced, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit this merchant’s ecommerce volumes grew astronomically. With this came a heightened focus the business had on increasing ecommerce revenues and gross margins even further. However, the internal client team that was in place at the time had limited experience understanding and identifying ecommerce revenue optimization opportunities as well as minimal resources to do so.
CMSPI Solution
Once engaged CMSPI started by benchmarking the ecommerce approval rates and highlighting areas of underperformance in a couple of the company’s key markets. Then using an internally developed ecommerce analytics tool the CMSPI team created custom reports specific to the client situation. Subsequently, CMSPI worked with issuers and processors to optimize rates and advocate for favorable solutions for the merchant. Additionally, CMSPI recommended changes to the merchants international processing strategy that more effectively supported the client’s long-term goals.
Benefits Achieved
CMSPI was able to help the international retailer achieve 25 basis points (bps) in several months, resulting in over $20m in revenue gain and half a percentage point margin. For comparison, in their last fiscal year the client realized less than a third of this on gross margin. Also, by adjusting their processing set-up, CMSPI delivered a 20% increase in the approval rate for one of their markets. Other peripheral benefits the client received included a higher conversion rate, improved analytics visibility, and streamlined RFP management, with all aspects ultimately providing a better customer experience.