How MB Collective processes 80% of 200 daily customer enquiries and saves around 50 hours per week
Scale five international fashion webshops without customer service growing in direct proportion to order numbers.
"Our customer service no longer grows in direct proportion to our order volume. We can scale without adding hours or people."
MB Collective TeamOwner, MB Collective
Automated
Of recurring customer enquiries processed fully independently
Time saved per week
Estimated weekly time saved for the operational team
Response time
Immediate automatic handling of known scenarios
About the customer
About MB Collective
MB Collective operates five fashion webshops with international fulfilment. The webshops are active in the European Union, the United Kingdom and Australia. A team of seven employees handles approximately 200 customer enquiries every day across the shops. All webshops run on Shopify. Customer communication arrives through Google Workspace mailboxes on their own domains. The international scale and large order volume created a continuous stream of recurring questions about shipping, tracking, returns and stock.
The problem
The challenge: 10 to 16 hours of customer service a day
Before NexReply, every customer enquiry was handled entirely manually. An employee read the message, looked up the relevant information and then wrote a response. With around 200 enquiries a day, this took the team an average of 10 to 16 person-hours per day.
Most common email scenarios
- π Shipping and tracking enquiries (where is my parcel?)
- π Return enquiries (how do I return my order?)
- π¦ Stock enquiries (is this item still available?)
The impact of a heavy support workload
A persistently full inbox, an average response time of five to six hours and little room for work that helps the webshops grow further.
The impact of the support workload
Pressure on operational capacity
The team spent most of the day on repetitive checks.
Slow international response times
Customers in different time zones had to wait a long time for a response.
No economies of scale
More orders immediately meant a proportionally larger support team was needed.
In fashion, many questions concern specific order data, so the answers must be correct. A wrong answer about a delivery costs us more than no answer.
MB Collective OwnerOwner, MB Collective
The decision
Choosing NexReply: up-to-date Shopify data and control
Before
- No direct Shopify integration for order data
- No review mode for complex questions
- No support for multiple webshops and mailboxes
- No seamless Google Workspace integration
With NexReply
- Direct Shopify integration for order data
- Retain review mode for complex questions
- Support for 5 separate webshops and mailboxes
- Seamless integration with Google Workspace
Non-negotiable requirements:
- Direct Shopify integration for order data
- Retain review mode for complex questions
- Support for 5 separate webshops and mailboxes
- Seamless integration with Google Workspace
The approach
The solution: NexReply as an intelligent automation layer
NexReply was connected to Shopify for order, shipping and stock data, and to the Google Workspace mailboxes of the five webshops. Because each webshop has its own brand and tone of voice, communication was configured separately for each shop. MB Collective deliberately started in review mode to build confidence for each type of question.
Configured automations
Order on hold
Immediately informs customers about payment or address checks.
Backorder communications
Provides accurate updates on expected delivery times.
Return procedure
Automatically sends the correct return label.
Delayed delivery
Retrieves the live status and proactively updates the customer.
Stock and restock enquiries
Matches questions with current restocking dates.
Send missing items / Resend the order
The integration with the fulfillment partner automatically handles partial or full reshipments, without requiring you to log in to the partnerβs portal.
Responses are based on:
Tone of voice
Gentle, helpful and suited to a premium natural products brand.
Business rules
No AI hallucinations; replies stay within approved boundaries.
Live context & data
Actual Shopify order data linked to Monta shipments.
Operational process flow
6 steps from incoming email to resolution
Email arrives
The customer emails support@mbcollective.nl
Question type identified
NexReply analyses the exact intent
Current data retrieved
Order & shipping data from Shopify/Monta
Rules checked
Business rules and templates checked
Reply prepared
Written accurately in the brand's tone of voice
Sent or escalated
- β Sent automatically
- β Sent to a team member
Technology
API integration with Shopify and Google Workspace
NexReply was connected to Shopify for order, shipping and stock data, and to the Google Workspace mailboxes of the five webshops. Because each webshop has its own brand and tone of voice, communication was configured separately for each shop. MB Collective deliberately started in review mode to build confidence for each type of question.
Shopify
- Order data
- Customer information
- Order status
NexReply
- AI Engine
Google Workspace
- Mailboxes
- Emails
- Replies
Monta WMS
- Stock
- Shipping
- Tracking
PostNL Shipping Integration
Tracking and delivery status available directly through Monta WMS
"What pleasantly surprised us most was how quickly it went live. Within the first month, responses were already fully automatic, and support from NexReply was always immediately available."
MB Collective OwnerOwner, MB Collective
Shopify API
- Order details
- Customer information
- Product details
- Order status
Google Workspace Inbox
- Central management of 5 separate mailboxes
- Seamless email synchronisation without delays
- Responses sent directly from the company's own domains
Monta WMS
- Stock
- Shipping and tracking
The Results
Significant time savings and drastically shorter response times
Results at a glance
- Time spent per day
- 2β4 hours
- Previously per day
- 10β16 hours
- With NexReply per day
- Around 2β4 hours
Response time comparison
From hours to minutes
Before
Manual
- Response time
- 5 - 6 Hours
- Working method
- Check every email manually
- Time spent
- 10 - 16 hours per day
Now
With NexReply
- Response time
- < 1 Minute
- Working method
- Standard questions handled automatically; exceptions reviewed
- Time spent
- Around 2 - 4 hours per day
Less manual work
From 10β16 hours per day to around 2β4 hours per day.
Less inbox pressure
Standard questions are handled automatically, giving the team a calmer workload.
More time for exceptions
The team has more capacity for complex questions and strategic improvements.
Consistent communication
Customers receive faster, more consistent replies, with less risk of human error.
The strategic impact
- Less pressure on the customer service team.
- Consistent replies across five separate webshops.
- Greater visibility and shorter response times.
- More time for work that contributes to further growth.
- Scale internationally without an equivalent increase in support capacity.
Tone of voice: better than expected
Maintaining their own tone of voice was initially one of the biggest concerns. In practice, the responses proved close to what the team would write itself.
"Because each shop has its own tone, it was important to be able to configure this separately for each webshop."
MB Collective Owner
Market position
NexReply vs. the market
| Role | NexReply | Trengo | Minimal AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI email recognition | Yes, with context | No | Not specified |
| Order data integration | Real-time | Via API only | Not specified |
| Draft reply + approval | Yes | Not specified | Not specified |
| Dutch language support | Native Dutch | Yes | Not specified |
Would you like this for your webshop too?
"If you receive many of the same questions, just try it. Start in review mode so you can see what goes out, and enable it for each question type once you have confidence in it."