[Voiceover]: Welcome to the Checkout. We catch up with previous add to cart guests and ask them five quick questions to get to know them better and leave you with a little extra inspiration to get you through your Friday.
[Voiceover]: Today's checkout features Brad Carney, CEO and co founder of Refunded. Refunded provide instant refunds to customers on behalf of brands when they make a return. So instead of customers having to wait until an item has made its often long journey back to the retailer, they get the cash in their pocket straight away. Refunded are backed by the venture arm of Afterpay and Now have over 30 stores on board, including Culture Kings, Sassonbide and General Pants.
Nathan Bush: Brad, welcome to the Checkout. We've learned a lot about Refunded, but we're here to learn a little bit more about you as the co founder and the CEO. Let's launch straight in number one, what's the weirdest thing that you've ever bought online?
Brad Karney: That's an interesting question, Nathan. I'd love to see some other people's answers on this.
Nathan Bush: We've had some goodies.
Brad Karney: Yeah, Yeah. I can only imagine looking a bit about me, I think what I've bought online, I think when I was, I spent quite a bit of time in the US kind of 2019 prior to Covid and I spent a lot of time on Amazon because you could just purchase anything and get it, you know, same day, same time, whatever that may be. So I was looking at anything to purchase, which was a lot of fun compared to in Australia, you know, you don't really have that instant delivery. There are some startups that are doing that actually out of Melbourne, which is really exciting, but they're not purchasing an Australian flag. I was over there and you never really think about doing that, you know, because in Australia who would purchase an Australian flag? And while I was in the US spending some time over there, I wanted an Australian flag, America. So I bought it. And how do you buy an Australian. Who's buying an Australian flag in America? Yeah, right. So it was quite. I ended up getting it, but you can only imagine like who the hell is buying an Australian flag in the us? I felt extremely funny, very patriotical.
Nathan Bush: Is that even a word? I don't think it's a word, but we'll go with it. And in terms of that, I'm really interested from a US perspective, seems to be around the same time you spotted the return and refund faults in Australia. How do you rate the US and their refund process compared to Australia?
Brad Karney: So the return rates in the US are extremely higher than Australia. So in terms of consumerism, I think the ease of. Not the ease. I think it's like retail customers in the US are much more adapt to kind of just sending stuff back. In terms of logistics, they're much more advanced. So for that, you know, returns are higher. Do I think that's good? Probably not due to sustainability, but the opportunity is definitely there for improvement. I will say though, logistics are advanced, their financial system is much less advanced in Australia. So when you talk about that five to seven business days of wait to get your money or sit in your account, that's real. So I think that there's a big opportunity there.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, great. We had Rosa from Crocked on recently and telling us about their experience in the US and how it's much more convenience based and less focused on sustainability. So echoing some thoughts there, which is great. Number two tricky one for you, who is your favorite retailer?
Brad Karney: I don't like this question. I reckon I'm gonna get killed for this. I think I'm obsessed. I don't know if this is. I'm obsessed with the cost. The real customer centric retailers, you know, I'm sure a lot of people say adore beauty because they are incredible. We've had great conversations with them. I absolutely love them in the team. I think they're incredible. I'll always say for me, Cold Chings has been super impressive. And actually more broadly the AKA Brands group which is Princess Polly, Petal and Pup, they have been super excited. Not just about refunded but I think about new tech and obviously I've got a soft spot for Colch Kings where the problem arose and we can attest refunded to them and the fact that they were so quick to jump on the opportunity that I really respect that. I think that's awesome. But across the board, especially in Australia, I think globally, a lot of US retailers will look at Australian retailers and think, oh wow, you know, what can we learn from them? So I'm a big fan of all the Australian retailers. Still learning a lot about the US guys. But you know, Australian retail as a
Nathan Bush: whole, you know, I love the the Culture King story that you told on our main episode. It's great that they were your original vision and that it came to life as you take it internationally. Do you have anyone on the, on the new vision board now that you go globally? If we crack this brand, we've made it.
Brad Karney: I think what after they did in the US was just, they absolutely killed it. With Urban Outfitters, they were really successful in the US to do that. So I think those guys would be great. I think they've got a lot of respect. You want to find the retailers that other retailers look up to and follow. I think Urban Outfitters is one of them. But in Australia, I think we're doing really nicely in onboarding the stores that we believe have the traction to kind of build that community.
Nathan Bush: It's a great tip, especially for people building solutions or services or technology, is find the retailers that other retailers respect because retailers are generally fast followers. So if they have people, you know, the proof is in what the good people are using. It's. It's a great tip. All right, number three, which E commerce practice do you wish was history?
Brad Karney: It's an interesting one, I think. I think that, like, when you, when you have to, you're forced to return to like either online or in store. I think, like utilizing the Omnichannel is, is what you want to do where customers, you know, can do both or anything. I've seen a couple stores that force you to do one line or the other.
Nathan Bush: Right.
Brad Karney: I think, you know, utilizing Omni, not just on the purchasing side, but on the returning side is so crucial. I think, like, that should definitely be gone.
Nathan Bush: Oh, you've triggered one for me too. It's just anyone who asks you to return and you've got to print something out to be able to return it. I'm like, I don't even have a printer.
Brad Karney: Stop it. Yeah, yeah, exactly right.
Nathan Bush: Number four, can you recommend a book or a podcast that our listeners should immediately get into?
Brad Karney: I hope some people say add to cart.
Nathan Bush: They do, they do, and I love it. And I'm like, thank you.
Brad Karney: Well, number one is we'll take add to cart for the purpose of the conversation. I'm a big fan of. Yeah, I'm a big fan of Masters of Scale, which is Reed Hoffman, the co founder of LinkedIn and Greylock Ventures. I think there's some really, really cool ones. I think in particular from a startup, there's a really good one, the Ten Commandments of Startup. It was with Tim Ferriss as well, which is a really good episode, but there's some awesome episodes and retailers that are on that that really dive deep, deep into the why and when and how that I really enjoy.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, that's brilliant. I saw that they've just released one with Obama, but I haven't listened to it yet.
Brad Karney: It's a two part. Two part. I think I was into the first part, but That's. That's a really good one. Yeah, Cool.
Nathan Bush: Good recommendation. All right, last one I've got for you. Brad, finish this sentence. The future of retail is.
Brad Karney: Oh, it's a. That's an interesting one, I think. I don't know what's really blown my mind is that the black. I think it's like the black shop grocery stuff where, you know, the 15 minute delivery of milk, you know, milk run like those guerrilla guys. And I somewhat think, I was thinking about it the other day, I somewhat think, you know, can retail get there? You know, if you look at like brick and mortar for retailers, you know, you've got your places, your Westfields or your shopping center that you go to, but it's the same for like Woolies and Coles. So I'm trying to think of the alignment there. You know, could there be, you know, these places where you can get a t shirt in 15 minutes get sent to you? You know, could you do that? That's just my startup mind in innovative mind thinking. Someone take the idea, please. I'd love to see this.
Nathan Bush: And then the question is, can we do it profitably and ethically?
Brad Karney: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Right. I don't want to say that's the future of retail. That's just my mind spitting an idea there. I think obviously Omnichannel is great, where you can just do everything, you know, online, over the phone, in store. I think that's kind of present now, but I think. Good. I think it's just convenience in the future, so I think that's pretty cool.
Nathan Bush: Ideal convenience is a good one. Brad, thank you for joining us on the checkout.
Brad Karney: Thanks, Nathan.
[Voiceover]: To hear more from Brad, jump back into episode 152 where Brad shares how refunded takes a load off customer service teams. He shares what it felt like when he onboarded the brand that provided the original idea for refunded and what he's learned about cultivating powerful business connections. Thanks for listening and until next time,
Nathan Bush: keep adding to car.
