Growth-driven Green Spin-off
for a D2C
E-Commerce Startup
When Growth Exposes Hidden Costs
The business, which started as a full-spectrum e-commerce accelerator, was gaining momentum as we found and refined our formula. We knew how to spot the right suppliers, build partnerships that actually worked, and move fast on consumer trends, powered by a blueprint-style marketing engine that we could roll out, tweak, and scale almost on autopilot.
Growth followed, and with it came the next logical step: instead of only helping other brands sell, we began launching our own D2C projects on top of the same infrastructure.
As business grew and we moved more inventory, reverse logistics quietly turned into a system-wide challenge, tying up space, money, and time, while also clashing with sustainability goals. As a marketing lead, I assembled the task force, reporting directly to the owner and the business development team, and we began to dig.
From the get-go, one thing was clear: returns aren’t just a number in a dashboard; they are physical products with a real sustainability impact and negative business value. So instead of asking “How do we make this go away?”, we asked “What if this is the starting point for something new?”
Second Chances at Scale
The answer became a dedicated “second-chance” platform: an online store for B-stock and returned items that were still perfectly usable, just not pristine enough for full-price positioning.
Some products had a slightly dented box, a light scratch, or a missing accessory. Others were simply opened, tested, and sent back. Instead of treating them as a liability, we turned them into the core offer of a new, green-angled brand where the value proposition was very simple: good-as-new products at sharp prices, with a clear environmental upside.
On the technical side, we moved fast by standing on the shoulders of what we had already built. We reused our existing back-end and front-end stack, plugged into the same CMS and warehousing software, and kept customer support flowing through the same channels.
The new shop was in many ways a different skin on top of the same ecosystem. The real transformation happened in logistics, pricing, and marketing. We redesigned the warehouse process so that any returned product could be inspected, graded, cleaned, refurbished if needed, and repacked within twenty-four hours. Once back in stock, it entered a dynamic pricing engine that responded not only to internal factors like stock levels and time on shelf, but also to external signals: competitor pricing, seasonal demand, and even weather.
Playful Shopping with Real Impact
On the front-end, we went beyond the typical outlet experience. This was a price-driven proposition with constantly changing stock and sharp deals, but it came with a personality.
The user journey leaned into the excitement of bargain hunting – new products every day, limited quantities, and the real risk of missing out if you waited too long. We layered on gamification and loyalty mechanics, including mystery boxes and a clear reward structure.
With the green angle at the center of the story, customers could see how many tonnes of CO₂ were effectively saved by giving returned products a second life, and we linked orders to tree planting and similar initiatives. We positioned it not as a bargain bin, but as a smarter, more sustainable way to shop.
The narrative resonated strongly. We started with targeted campaigns and collaborations with micro-influencers active in sustainability and smart-shopping communities, and the story quickly grew. The combination of value, playfulness, and a genuine environmental angle made the project memorable and easy to talk about.
Expanding the Model
Once we had proof that the model worked, we expanded the scope. We approached existing suppliers and clients from the accelerator side with a straightforward proposition: send us your returns, and we’ll handle the rest. For them, this meant unclogging warehouses and reclaiming value from stock that was otherwise a burden. For us, it meant rapidly expanding the assortment without the classic inventory risk that comes with buying upfront.
With that foundation in place, we approached marketplaces, larger vendors, and players already active in refurbishment. This gave us access to a completely different layer of products, including high-value items such as iPhones, gaming consoles, and other premium electronics. The shop evolved into a place where top brands and high-ticket goods sat side by side with more accessible basket fillers, creating a product mix that worked incredibly well for both conversion and basket size.
As assortment breadth and perceived value improved, average order values climbed, and growth accelerated even further.
From Green Spin-Off to Core Growth Engine
Over time, this green spin-off stopped being just an experiment. It became the most successful e-commerce project in the organization, reaching around €15M in annual turnover and generating strong publicity for the business as a whole.
Because it was built on a genuine sustainability logic and not just price-cutting, it opened doors to partnerships that might have been harder to secure with a conventional discount shop.
Strategically, the impact ran deeper than revenue. The project gave us access to premium inventory that is usually difficult for smaller players to obtain and price competitively. It strengthened our relationships with suppliers and created a structural solution for one of the hardest parts of running webshops at scale: returns.
Knowing that we had a profitable, sustainable channel for returned products made it easier to launch and grow other online stores in the portfolio. Instead of returns being a constant drag on margins and storage space, they became fuel for a business that was good for customers, good for our partners, and measurably better for the planet.