Lacoste's Journey to Automating Reimbursement Requests and Shortening SLAs by 50%

Lacoste, a globally recognized fashion brand, faced significant challenges with its reimbursement process, particularly in its Brazilian e-commerce operations. The surge in online sales due to the Covid-19 pandemic led to an increase in customer return requests, which required a quick and error-proof reimbursement process to ensure optimal customer experience. For debit card purchases, the Finance team had to initiate a lengthy process of collecting and running the client’s information through internal approvals until it could be handed off to the Accounts Payable team. This process was organized through email, spreadsheets, and printed documents, with the approval flow being the most manual part. The Finance team had to gather physical signatures before processing the reimbursement payment. The increase in online sales and remote working began to impact the deadlines for customer reimbursements directly. The Finance team needed to find a digital and agile solution to gain efficiency in this process and replace their manual workflow.

Lacoste is a globally recognized fashion brand, founded by French tennis legend René Lacoste. The brand is known for its famous embroidered crocodile on its shirts, shoes, and sports clothing. In 2019, Lacoste employed over 8,500 people with operations in 98 countries and 1,100 physical stores around the world. In addition to its physical storefronts, Lacoste also has e-commerce operations in over 30 countries, offering their customers a digital, self-service experience. Their digital presence began to grow rapidly as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to a significant increase in online sales.