90-Day Pilot
A pilot gives you real adoption data, real CO₂ savings, and a real financial result, without a long-term commitment. Most clients go live within a week of signing.
What happens
A pilot is not a proof of concept that requires a project team. It is a live deployment on a subset of your return flow. Real consumers, real returns, real Forwards. You see actual adoption rates, actual savings, actual buyer ratings, not projections. At 90 days you have everything you need to make a fully informed decision about scaling.
We review your platform, return volume, and product categories. We confirm which integration path applies (plugin, return portal, or API) and agree a go-live scope. Usually one product category or one market to start. For example: a multi-category retailer might start with denim only, running for 90 days before adding outerwear. A multi-market retailer might start with their Netherlands market only, before expanding to Belgium and Germany.
1–5 days of one developer's time, depending on platform complexity. Shopify and Magento plugin installations are typically half a day. Custom API integrations take longer. We're available during integration to answer questions and help debug. We handle the configuration: discount ranges, matching periods, consumer messaging.
Once integrated, Forwarding runs without any manual work from your team. Consumers see the Forward option in their return flow. Matches are made automatically. Labels are issued. Refunds are triggered. You watch the dashboard.
At 90 days we give you a complete report: total Forwards, consumer adoption rate, net saving, CO₂ saved, buyer ratings, and a comparison against your baseline return cost. We present this whether it is a strong result or a weak one. If it does not work for your category or setup, we will tell you why.
What to expect
Most consumer-facing features ramp. Forwarding is no exception. The 90-day pilot is designed to cover the full ramp, from first Forward to benchmark performance. Here's what that progression usually looks like.
Month 1
Consumer presentation goes live. Early adoption starts at roughly 40% of benchmark as consumers encounter the option for the first time. Each Forward is already net-positive, but aggregate volume is below what the calculator projects for steady state.
Typical Forwarding rate: ~14% of returns
Month 2
Consumer familiarity grows. Your team uses month 1 data to iterate on product-page presentation. Adoption approaches 70% of benchmark. Per-Forward economics stay positive, and the aggregate starts to feel meaningful.
Typical Forwarding rate: ~24.5% of returns
Month 3 onwards
Adoption at full benchmark. Forwarding is now running at the steady-state rate the calculator projects. The pilot is complete, and the decision to continue becomes an easy one: the numbers are real and observable.
Typical Forwarding rate: 35% of returns
This is why the pilot is 90 days, not 30. A shorter pilot captures the ramp but not the benchmark, and the decision to continue would be made on incomplete data. 90 days gives you all three stages, the numbers at the end, and a clean basis to decide.
Proof
Kuyichi went live in February 2025 as our first client. This is the same deployment pattern that a 90-day pilot follows: real consumers, real Forwards, real data from day one.
“Why was no one else doing this, it's a no-brainer.”
Peter Schuitema, Co-owner, Kuyichi
In March 2026, Forwarding won eBay's pitching contest. The next step is to scope a pilot with eBay at marketplace scale.
A global marketplace running a competitive contest is a meaningful signal of where the industry is heading.
What this involves
What you'll learn
The questions that are hard to answer before going live are easy to answer after 90 days of real data. Here is what you will know.
Not an industry average: your consumers, your product category, your return flow. Our live average is 43%, but this varies by brand positioning and consumer profile.
See how consumers experience Forwarding →Based on your real return volume, your real Forward rate, and your real return processing cost, not the calculator's estimates.
Total grams saved, per-Forward average, and an annualised projection, ready to use in CSRD and sustainability reporting.
Our live average is 4.8/5. You will see whether your category, packaging standards, and consumer base produce a similar result.
Adoption and quality outcomes vary by category. After 90 days you will know which categories to prioritise for full rollout.
Quality, legal, consumer experience: the objections that felt real before go-live will either be confirmed or resolved by actual data. Most are resolved.
Questions
That's expected. The calculator's steady-state projection assumes benchmark adoption (35% Forwarding rate), which usually takes about 90 days to reach. Month 1 typically runs at roughly 40% of benchmark, not because the mechanism is working slowly, but because consumers need time to encounter and become familiar with the option. Every individual Forward in month 1 is still net-positive. The pilot's 90-day length is designed to carry you through the full ramp.
Then we have a useful conversation at the 90-day review. Benchmark (35% Forwarding rate) assumes Kuyichi-level product-page presentation. If your adoption stays well below benchmark after 90 days, it usually points to one of three things: presentation below best practice (we iterate together during the pilot), category fit (some product types just don't work), or unusually cautious customers. In all three cases, we would rather know honestly and either fix it, adjust projections downward, or end the engagement cleanly. We don't push pilots to continuation if the numbers don't support it.
We present your results in a review call. You decide: expand to more categories or markets, continue as-is, or cancel. There is no automatic rollover to a longer contract. The decision is entirely yours based on what the data shows.
Yes, and we recommend it. Starting with one or two categories gives you a cleaner signal and limits integration scope. Fashion apparel, footwear, and accessories are the best-performing categories. We help you choose the right scope based on your return volume.
A pilot needs enough volume to generate statistically meaningful data. As a rough guide, 50+ returns per month in the pilot scope gives you useful signal in 90 days. If your volume is lower, we can extend the pilot period or discuss whether Forwarding is the right fit for your current scale.
No. From the consumer's perspective, Forwarding is simply a return option; there is nothing pilot-like about the experience. You may choose to frame it internally as a pilot without any consumer-facing disclosure.
Active support during integration, a shared channel for questions, and a mid-pilot check-in at 45 days to review early data and address any issues. We treat pilots seriously: our goal is for you to have a clean result, positive or negative.
The monthly platform fee applies from day one. There is no setup fee and no pilot premium. You pay the standard per-Forward fee only when a Forward is sold. See our pricing page for current rates.
Ready to start
Fill in the form below and we'll respond within one business day. Carl personally responds to every pilot inquiry with a proposed integration path and go-live timeline.
Processing 2,000+ returns per month? Enterprise pilots follow a different path, start there instead →
We reply to every inquiry: sometimes to propose a pilot, sometimes to tell you honestly that Forwarding isn't the right fit for your current scale or category. Honesty saves both sides' time.
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