Bosonožka: We Handle Thousands of Returns a Month with Two People — and 99.6% Customer Satisfaction

Imagine going through dozens of paper forms every day. Manually re-entering data into Excel. Filling in banking details by hand. Explaining to customers how to arrange return shipping. And then answering questions like "Did you receive my parcel?" or "When will I get my money back?" Sound familiar?

That was the reality at Bosonožka.cz. Today, they handle 10,000 orders a month with a return rate of around 25% — and they do it with just two full-time team members. Customer satisfaction? 99.6%. How did they get there?

Bosonožka: 10 years in the market, thousands of orders a month

Bosonožka is a Czech online store selling barefoot footwear for the whole family. Since 2015, they've been helping Czech families find properly fitting shoes — and in doing so, helping them avoid potential health problems. They take customer care very seriously and strive to be genuinely available to their customers.

Until recently, they even offered free exchanges and returns. However, rising shipping costs forced them to introduce a small return shipping fee. They still subsidise part of the cost themselves to keep the process comfortable and affordable for customers.

The challenge: When a high return rate becomes a barrier to growth

The right shoe size is crucial for healthy feet. But with barefoot footwear, choosing the right fit is more complex than with conventional shoes — knowing "the size you usually wear" isn't enough. Foot length, width, toe shape, and instep height all matter. Although Bosonožka works extensively with customers to help them find the right size (with special measuring tools, an advice centre, size guides, and a sophisticated shoe finder on their website), a higher return rate is a natural feature of this segment.

And that's where the challenge arose: how to handle hundreds of returns and exchanges efficiently and quickly — while keeping customers happy to come back.

What the returns process looked like before Retino:

• Manual collection of data from paper forms included in parcels
• Manually re-entering data into Excel
• Several days' delay in processing returns and refunds
• Customers had to arrange their own return shipping
• Dozens of daily enquiries: "Did you receive my parcel?", "When will I get my money back?"
• Zero automation and no overview

The solution: Implementing Retino

Bosonožka implemented Retino in 2018. The entire process went very smoothly, thanks in large part to the easy integration with the Shoptet platform — no developers or custom modifications required.

• Seamless and fast connection to Shoptet
• Basic setup completed within a few hours
• Support from the Retino team in configuring automations

Results after deploying Retino

Simplicity and clarity

• Customers fill in an online form directly on the website — no reams of paper to print
• In the online form, they select their preferred carrier
• Retino automatically generates a shipping label for them
• Bosonožka has instant visibility into what's being returned and why
• Customers are automatically notified at every step (return received → refund issued)

Process automation = 80% time saving

Retino has significantly shortened the time between receiving returned goods and issuing a refund, which has substantially reduced the number of enquiries about refund status. Automations aren't just a technical convenience — they are the foundation of a system that runs reliably, quickly, and with minimal manual effort.

• All information is clearly available in one place
• No need to manually transcribe data from paper forms
• Automated customer communication = reduced load on customer support

Customer retention and satisfaction

It became clear that online customers assess the overall quality of service. What they appreciate most is being able to complete the entire process online in just a few minutes — and getting their money back quickly. They're also delighted to be kept informed about the status of their return at every stage. Retino contributes to an overall improvement in the customer experience, which is reflected in review scores — including on Heureka.

Staffing efficiency

With around 10,000 orders per month and a return rate of approximately 25%, the entire process is managed by a two-person full-time team. Automation has enabled growth without the need to scale up headcount proportionally.

Cost savings

The savings are significant — most visibly in staffing costs. But Retino helps optimise costs in other ways too: because customers simply submit a return online and immediately receive a shipping label, the time-consuming back-and-forth, complex communication, and errors that generate additional costs are all eliminated.

• Reduced staffing costs
• Elimination of errors from manual processing
• Higher repeat purchase rate — retention through a great customer experience is cheaper than acquiring new customers

Insights through statistics

Thanks to clear reporting, Bosonožka not only has a full history of each customer — how many orders they've placed, how often they return or exchange items — but also knows why customers are returning goods, whether it's down to size, material, or unmet expectations.

They also have visibility into which shoe models are being ordered and which are being returned, enabling them to recommend more suitable models and better educate customers.

Of course, the quality of this data depends on how carefully customers fill in the reason for their return — but even so, the data helps identify recurring issues early. They also share this data with manufacturers to build more effective partnerships.

Growth and expansion

Without automation and a streamlined returns management system, they would need a significantly larger team to handle their current order volumes. Retino allows them to grow without chaos — and without burning out their people.

Bosonožka recently expanded into the German market, where return rates tend to be even higher than in the Czech Republic. Retino is built to handle multiple languages, and deploying in Germany simply required localising the existing setup into German — no need to build an entirely new process. That saved considerable time and money.

Retino Tracking

In addition to Retino Returns, Bosonožka this year also deployed Retino Tracking — enabling them to unify shipment tracking across all carriers, proactively handle delays, shorten customer support response times, and significantly reduce the number of "Where is my order?" enquiries.

Bosonožka's recommendation