81. ClearReturns

Founders: Vicky Brock and Stephen Budd
Founded: January 2012
Website: www.clearreturns.com

When Vicky Brock and Stephen Budd learned that 32% of clothing bought online is returned – even more at Christmas – and that some of this ends up in landfill because of challenges getting it back on sale, they knew this was a problem they could help solve. Working closely with retailers has helped them develop a software solution for medium-sized companies, which don’t have their own business intelligence teams. Using retailers’ own customer data, it identifies, predicts and will ultimately intercept “saveable” returns before they occur.

Pre-launch, the business has around 15 retailers who are involved in beta testing and who, they hope, will become paying customers as soon as the technology is proven, and becomes smarter as a result of the data it is being fed.