Case Study: Moving to Refill — Our 6-Month Refillable Aloe Pilot (2026 Results)

Case Study: Moving to Refill — Our 6-Month Refillable Aloe Pilot (2026 Results)

Hook: Refillable packaging is a strategic lever in 2026. We ran a six-month pilot to measure emissions, retention, and customer sentiment. These are the hard numbers and practical learnings.

Pilot design & goals

Goals: reduce single-use plastic by 70% for participating customers, increase LTV by 15%, and test logistics complexity. We partnered with a refill pouch supplier and offered a discount incentive for customers who enrolled.

Operational notes

Shipping and return behavior were central to the pilot. We leaned on the operations wisdom in the Shipping & Returns Deep Dive and examined cross-border implications with reference to Fast Facts: Shipping to the US and EU — Policy Update.

Customer outcomes and retention

Key results:

• Enrollment: 12% of active customers signed up for refill during a 6-week window.
• Retention lift: enrolled customers showed a 17% higher reorder rate at 90 days.
• Carbon impact: modeled reduction of 42% per enrolled user vs single-use formats over one year.

Lessons learned

1. Clear communication matters: customers need transparent instructions and visible environmental impact numbers.
2. Logistics overhead: returns infrastructure increases operational complexity; see shipping playbooks for mitigation strategies.
3. Pilot incentives: a modest discount and early-access bundle drove initial uptake.

Why this matters for retailers and brand partners

Retail buyers increasingly prioritize refillable options. A tested refill program reduces upstream waste and creates a recurring revenue motion. For detailed packaging strategy ideas, we reviewed the sustainability playbooks highlighted in industry guides like this report.

Next steps

We’re expanding the refill program to three EU markets and optimizing fulfillment with regional hubs to reduce freight emissions — a move informed by the shipping economics in the deep dive and the regulatory nuance at the US/EU update.

Conclusion

Refillable formats are high-friction to set up but pay off in retention and sustainability metrics. If you’re planning a refill initiative, run a small pilot, measure both carbon and customer behavior, and design logistics with the operational playbooks we referenced.