Startup Series: Meet Yayloh - A smart analytics solution to reduce retail returns

Meet the Yayloh team! Nikhil Shikarkhane, CTO and co-founder, is a full-stack engineer and deep learning specialist as well as a serial entrepreneur. At Antler, he met his co-founder and CEO Sophie Aubard, who had the same entrepreneurial mindset but who could complement his skills well with deep knowledge about how to run and scale big businesses after having worked for big malls in the retail space.

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Together, they co-founded Yayloh, a smart analytics SaaS solution to reduce retail returns. By digitizing and automating the return process using data analytics and machine learning, Yayloh helps online retailers increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, streamline costs and increase conversion.

The problem today is that e-commerce systems are not designed to take care of their customers after they've completed their purchase - there is a lot of friction both on the end-customer process and on the retailer's process. Until now, retailers haven't had the data to get a good understanding of what is being returned and for what reason, which makes it very difficult for them to reduce their return rates.

Transcript

Sophie Aubard, CEO/co-founder Yayloh: Yayloh is a SaaS solution for online retailers to help them deliver their end-customers a best-in-class positive experience and reduce their returns. The problem today is that e-commerce systems are not designed to take care of their customers after they've completed their purchases. This means that if the customer wants to return something, there is a lot of friction both on the end-customer process and on the retailer's process. Also, what we notice is that retailers don't get a good understanding of what is being returned and for what reason, which makes it very difficult for them to reduce their return rates.

Nikhil Shikarkhane, CTO/co-founder Yayloh: This is a very special place because we are at our first customer Grandpa. While working with them, we got to understand their process of bringing their brand from the stores to the digital space. The only place that was lacking was the return flow. So, Yayloh came in and helped Grandpa bring the same brand experience even in the return flow. Considering my technology background in data analytics and machine learning, I wanted to find a business partner who had complementary skills. Then I met Sophie. Sophie had really deep knowledge about how to run and scale big businesses, she had worked for big malls in the retail space. She knew what was needed to get the job done.

Sophie Aubard: I think Nikhil and I have built a very good team, not only because of our complementary backgrounds but also because of our matching personalities. Because of both of our international experiences and mix of cultures, we are both extremely open to giving and receiving feedback, which makes it easy for us to continuously improve and have strong grit to make it happen.

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