Case Study /

From attic office to international success

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In ten years’ time, Perfectly Basics (www.perfectlybasics.com) grew from a new startup to an online fashion retailer

focused on the Benelux region, Great Britain and the United States. Their international expansion was based on their

ability to offer customers the payment methods customers know and trust, across all online devices, made possible by

Ingenico ePayments. In addition, Perfectly Basics’ Client Service Department relies on Ingenico ePayments’ solutions to

quickly process refunds and returned shipments.

Perfectly Basics started as small online store, selling simple black and white T-shirts, and run from the founder’s attic.

When it was established in 2006, the company sent manually created invoices which were brought to the post office by

the founder of the company on his bicycle. Since then, Perfectly Basics has grown into a popular international retailer

with nearly 30 employees. Today, it offers consumers from all over the world clothing from luxury brands such as Filippa K,

Theory, Helmut Lang and Alexander Wang.

To support their growth, Perfectly Basics needed a new solution for that would enable them to process prepaid orders and

would also support various payment methods in multiple countries.

Ingenico ePayments’ products and services

are scalable, seamlessly supporting our cross-border

strategy and roll-out in different countries.

Carlin Verweijen, New Business Development Manager at Perfectly Basics

INTERNATIONAL GROWTH AND MOBILE FIRST

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“We’re currently focusing on the Benelux region, the

United Kingdom and the United States,” says Carlin

Verweijen, responsible for business development at

Perfectly Basics. “iDeal is the most common payment

method in the Netherlands, but in other countries they use

entirely different payment methods. To serve different

local markets, it is important for us to work with a

payment services provider that supports a wide range of

payment methods.”

Ingenico ePayments enables companies to offer customers

around the world their preferred payment products, with

more than 150 payment methods globally. Furthermore,

Ingenico ePayments’ products and services are tailored,

allowing Perfectly Basics to offer its customers only the

payment methods that are relevant for the markets it

focuses on. “When we recently expanded to the US, we

were able to easily enter the American market because we

had already added the American Express payment option

to the English website,” says Carlin. “The easy activation

of additional payment methods allows us to enter new

regions with a very short time-to-market.”

Another element that contributes to Perfectly Basics’

success is their mobile-first strategy, which automatically

redirects smart-phone and tablet visitors to a mobile

version of their webshop. “Roughly forty percent of our

sales come from smartphones and tablets,” says Carlin.

“A mobile-friendly payment process plays a crucial part

in that figure, thanks to Ingenico ePayments’ mobile

check-out, which seamlessly adapts to the device used.

Customers are redirected to their bank’s mobile website

or app, and for credit cards the fields are automatically

adapted to mobile devices.”

QUICKER REFUND PROCESSING

THE ANSWER TO ALL QUESTIONS

In addition to facilitating online payments, Perfectly

Basics has also recently started using Ingenico ePayments’

services for processing returned shipments. “That used

to be a lot of work,” says Carlin. “Every time we received

a returned shipment, our Client Service Department had

to cross-reference it with information on whether the

customer had paid shipping costs and if the product had

been sold with a discount. Then our team had to calculate

the correct refund amount and manually wire the refund

back to the bank account.”

“Now, it’s a lot easier,” she continues. “Because we

integrated the Ingenico ePayments’ platform into the

online form that our customers use for returns, now,

all our Client Service Department has to do is confirm

that we received the shipment. Ingenico ePayments

then automatically wires the correct amount back to the

corresponding bank account.”

The Ingenico ePayments platform has been very stable throughout the entire time that Perfectly Basics has worked

with the payments processor, allowing sales to occur undisturbed for over ten years. “We are also very happy with our

Ingenico ePayments Account Manager and the personal support we receive,” says Carlin. “He has the answer to all of

our questions about payments and we can always depend on him for advice. All in all, we are very happy with Ingenico

ePayments and will continue to work with them for the foreseeable future.”

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Curious about how we can go further together?

Visit www.ingenico.com/epayments