eComID’s Bet: Why Education, Not Persuasion, Drives Category Creation

eComID’s Bet: Why Education, Not Persuasion, Drives Category Creation

Try to sell something that doesn’t have a name yet. Go ahead. Write the ad copy. Build the landing page. Optimize the conversion funnel. You’ll quickly realize the entire marketing playbook assumes one thing: customers know what they’re looking for.

Oscar Rundqvist doesn’t have that luxury.

In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Oscar Rundqvist, CEO and Co-Founder of eComID, described the central challenge of building a pre-purchase returns reduction platform. “The category that we’re inventing, kind of returns reduction or pre purchase returns reduction is quite new,” he explains. “It’s not that they actively know it’s something to look for.”

When buyers don’t know the category exists, when the search terms haven’t been coined yet, when the problem hasn’t been named, persuasion fails. Education becomes the only path forward.

The Problem with Non-Existent Search Terms

Most B2B marketing starts with keyword research. What are prospects searching for? What’s the search volume? You optimize for terms people are already using, build content around existing queries, and capture demand that already exists.

This approach has a fatal flaw when you’re creating a category: nobody’s searching for you. There’s no volume for “pre-purchase returns reduction” because the market hasn’t learned that phrase yet.

eComID solves a massive problem. Fashion e-commerce brands face 30-50% return rates. “54% of all dresses that was bought online in Europe last year were returned,” Oscar notes. Between 2019 and 2022, product returns in the US nearly doubled to $800 billion.

But brands aren’t searching for “pre-purchase returns reduction.” They’re searching for “returns management” or “reverse logistics.” Those searches lead them to post-purchase solutions, to companies that help handle returns more efficiently after they happen.

This is the education gap. The market knows it has a returns problem. It just doesn’t know there’s a category of solution that prevents returns before purchase.

Education as Category Creation

Oscar’s approach to this challenge reveals the fundamental mechanics of category creation. “We’re trying to engage wherever this is discussed, trying to encourage this to be discussed even more,” he explains.

Notice the language. Not “wherever prospects are searching.” Not “wherever we can capture demand.” Wherever the problem is discussed. The goal isn’t intercepting existing intent. It’s shaping how people think about the problem.

This requires a fundamentally different content strategy. You’re not writing to capture search volume. You’re writing to create the vocabulary that will eventually become search terms.

When Oscar says they’re trying to “encourage this to be discussed even more,” he’s describing demand creation, not demand capture. They need the conversation to shift from “how do we handle returns better” to “how do we stop returns from happening.”

The Information Sequencing Problem

Category evangelism requires careful sequencing. You can’t just explain your solution. You first need to educate the market about why the current approach is insufficient.

eComID’s education sequence starts with the magnitude of the problem. Oscar consistently leads with the numbers: 50% return rates, $800 billion in returns, 54% of dresses returned. These aren’t sales statistics. They’re awareness builders.

Next comes the gap in existing solutions. “There are a lot of really good startups and innovators within returns management. So post purchase, helping brands to deal with the returns when they occur,” Oscar explains. “But what we saw is that there are fewer brands and startups that help brands reduce the returns proactively.”

This framing is critical. Oscar isn’t attacking competitors. He’s positioning them in a different category. Returns management handles returns after they happen. Returns reduction prevents them before purchase.

Only after establishing the problem magnitude and the solution gap does the conversation turn to eComID’s specific approach.

Engagement Over Advertising

Oscar’s tactical approach emphasizes engagement over broadcasting. Rather than running ads, eComID shows up in conversations where the returns problem is already being discussed.

This isn’t scalable in the traditional sense. But it accomplishes something advertising can’t: it positions eComID as participants in solving an industry-wide problem, not vendors selling a product.

“We acknowledge that product returns is not one brand’s problem, it’s an industry wide problem,” Oscar notes. This framing removes the competitive zero-sum dynamic. When you’re educating rather than persuading, you become a resource instead of a vendor.

The education approach also creates compounding value. Every brand that learns about pre-purchase returns reduction becomes a potential evangelist for the category. They start using the language and help normalize the idea that returns can be prevented.

The Regulation Bet

Oscar hints at an external catalyst that could accelerate category education. “Hopefully, and probably there will come some regulation soon,” he says about the returns crisis.

This is strategic patience. While eComID educates the market organically, they’re anticipating that regulatory pressure will eventually force brands to take returns reduction seriously. When that happens, brands that already understand pre-purchase reduction will have a head start.

Consumer Education as Product Strategy

eComID’s education efforts extend beyond B2B marketing to consumer behavior change. Their “green nudging” approach aims to make shoppers aware of the environmental impact of returns. “We in the brands experiences, we nudge the customers and inform them, educate them about the environmental impact of returns,” Oscar explains.

This creates a virtuous cycle. Educated consumers pressure brands to offer returns reduction solutions. Brands implementing eComID educate more consumers.

Looking forward, Oscar envisions taking this further. “We want to make it cool to shop in a responsible way and we want to make it rewarding,” he says. “Imagine if the kids could compare the return rates and the ones with low return rates would encourage in a way.”

When responsible shopping becomes social currency, the entire market shifts. Brands don’t need to be sold on pre-purchase returns reduction. They need it to meet customer expectations.

The Principle Behind the Approach

Strip away the specifics, and you find a principle that applies across category creation: you can’t persuade someone to buy a solution to a problem they don’t know they have or don’t believe can be solved differently.

The instinct with new categories is to focus on product differentiation. But when the category doesn’t exist yet, you’re not competing for market share. You’re competing for mindshare. You’re trying to change how people think about a problem.

This means the primary metric isn’t conversions or pipeline. It’s vocabulary adoption. Are people starting to use your terms? Are they framing the problem the way you frame it?

Oscar’s approach with eComID demonstrates that category creation is a market education effort first and a sales effort second. The time invested in shaping conversations and building vocabulary pays dividends when the market finally understands what you’re selling.