When Back Market made headlines in 2024, it wasn't for the reasons a brand wants. The businesses self-serve after-sales strategy and push for operational efficiency had revealed unintended consequences: making it harder for customers to get help. A spike in detractors followed, and stories of frustrated customers found their way into the press. For a brand in a nascent category (like refurbished tech), building trust is critically important so the reputational stakes couldn't have been higher.

This crisis, however, became a catalyst for positive change. It created the moment that gave CX and design leaders the buy-in from senior leadership to fundamentally reshape customer care and to make the case that it isn't just a cost centre but a revenue and loyalty driver.

In this session, Rufus Kahler, Back Market's Head of Product Design and Content Design, will share the story of that turnaround: the strategic U-turn, the multi-year replatforming effort and the rollout of Care 2.0, a hybrid human-AI contact centre model built to meet the needs of customers navigating the complexities of refurbished tech. He'll be candid about the hard decisions along the way, including the cultural shift from "build" to "buy" and the process of finding a tech partner capable of keeping pace as AI capabilities continue to evolve.