For an e-commerce business, managing product returns can feel like trying to herd cats—challenging and, at times, downright chaotic. Did you know that a staggering 30% of all online purchases are returned, compared to just 8.89% for items bought in physical stores? That’s a lot of virtual boomerangs making their way back to retailers.
But here’s the kicker: 92% of consumers say they’d buy again if the return process is easy. Clearly, a smooth returns experience isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s a must to build a loyal customer base.
Enter returns management software—a robust tool that transforms returns headaches into streamlined operations. In this article, we’ll explore what returns management solutions are, why they should make it into your tech stack, and some top-notch solutions that can turn your return woes into wins, keeping your customers and your bottom line happy.
What is Returns Management Software?
Returns management software is a solution that helps you automate your returns management processes. Think of it as your all-in-one platform that streamlines the entire returns process, from receiving and reviewing requests to authorizing and processing them. But that’s not all—it also empowers your customers to raise return or exchange requests easily, generate return labels, and stay updated with real-time communication, all in one place.
What truly sets a returns management solution apart is its ability to turn a potential pain point into an opportunity for connection. By gaining access to customizable, on-brand returns status tracking pages, you can deliver a seamless post-purchase experience that keeps your customers engaged and loyal. This isn’t just about solving logistical headaches—it’s about building trust and enhancing your brand, one smooth return at a time.
Benefits of Using Returns Management Software
If you’re on the fence about whether this is worth your time and effort and if it will indeed add value to your operations, let’s look at some of the benefits it brings to the table:
Reduced return costs
Did you know that returning a $50 item costs an e-commerce business an average of $33? That’s a steep cost for facilitating a return. And the culprit is an unoptimized and opaque returns management process.
Returns management software helps you reduce the cost of returns by automating the entire process of raising return and exchange requests, reviewing them, and sanctioning refunds if applicable. Further, these tools track and collect valuable returns and exchange data that can help you optimize your operations.
Improved customer satisfaction by making returns seamless
Returns management software helps you streamline your returns and exchange process for your customers. It helps you create branded returns and exchange pages that empower customers to raise and track return requests.
Not only that, but leading solutions also offer automatic label generation (47% of customers want easy-to-print return labels), further simplifying the process for your customers. This, coupled with prompt and personalized communication, helps drive your customer’s post-purchase experience and increase their chances of returning to your business.
Makes returns and exchanges efficient
Returns management software helps you optimize your operations and enhances efficiency by automating tasks such as recording returns and exchange requests, ensuring these align with your returns and exchange policies, reviewing requests, generating labels, tracking returns, and initiating refunds or exchanges.
This doesn’t just help you save time but also eliminates manual errors that can compromise efficiency.
Insights into your returns process
Perhaps the most significant benefit of a returns management solution is its ability to monitor and track every step of the returns process and furnish detailed insights and reports. Once you have these, you can make informed decisions about product design, inventory management, budgets, and customer support.
Retain a sale with positive returns experiences
84% of customers will never return to a brand after a negative return experience. In other words, an unoptimized, frustrating returns experience = no repeat customers and diminished revenue.
Combine this with the fact that 40% of an e-commerce platform’s revenue comes from repeat customers, and facilitating a positive returns and exchange process that drives customer loyalty becomes more important than ever.
Returns management software helps you achieve this by empowering customers to raise returns and exchange requests, track their statuses, and receive regular updates for them—all from a dedicated, on-brand returns page that doesn’t disrupt their brand experience. Once they’re confident they can get their money back if the product doesn’t meet their needs, they will be more inclined to continue shopping with you.
Top 10 Returns Management Software Providers
Here’s a look at the top e-commerce returns management software providers that you should consider in 2025:
1. LateShipment.com
LateShipment.com’s returns experience management software helps you streamline your returns and exchange processes. We help decrease up to 80% of return-related support tickets and 95% in returns processing time. Our returns management software offers some incredible features as part of a comprehensive post-purchase experience platform that includes software for parcel audit, shipping refunds, shipping insurance, and delivery experience.
Key Benefits
- On-brand Returns Portal: Create branded returns and exchange portals to allow customers to make requests within your storefront.
- Smart Policy Compliance: Leverage smart policy compliance that automatically enforces return windows, non-returnable items, and other customized return and exchange rules when customers raise requests.
- Downloadable Return Labels: Get instantly generated downloadable labels and offer detailed shipping instructions within the portal.
- Personalized and Timely Updates: Share personalized and regular return status updates across email and SMS to keep customers updated.
- Branded Return Portal: Empower customers to look up their returns’ or exchanges’ status directly from your website, on-demand.
- Offer Alternatives to Returns: Encourage exchanges and store credit over refunds with compelling offers, discounts, and free shipping.
- Make Your Own Return Rules: Customize your return rules as per your own policy.
- Resolve Return Issues Efficiently: Struggling with a particular return request? Resolve returns in a single click, with all details readily available on the centralized dashboard.
- Seamless Integration: Our solution offers over 1200 native integrations with FedEx, Shippo, Shopify, Gorigias, Klaviyo, and more.
Pricing
Returns Experience Management: $7/month, up to 14 returns, $0.35 per extra return. In other words—pay a flat fee for the first 14 returns and pay-per-use thereafter.
Explore LateShipment.com by signing up for a free trial today!
G2 Ratings: 5/5
2. Narvar
Narvar’s returns management solution offers cutting-edge features such as inventory management analytics and reporting to help you drive the efficiency of your returns and exchange processes. It is most suited to large businesses that might need to manage complex transaction volumes.
Key Benefits
- Offers proactive customer updates at every stage of the returns and exchange process, driving post-purchase experience.
- Helps you personalize your returns tracking page to drive incremental revenue (through upselling or cross-selling on the page) and customer engagement.
- Set complex return rules with the platform to recapture and accept returns from multiple channels to recapture revenue and save costs.
Pricing: Contact sales
G2 Rating: 4.3/5
3. Loop
Loop offers a returns management platform that helps e-commerce businesses optimize returns, post-purchase, and reverse logistics operations. It also helps you reduce instances of fraud, retain more revenue, and drive Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) through a fully integrated platform.
Key Benefits
- Offers seamless integration with leading business systems and a user-friendly interface, facilitating quick onboarding.
- Specially built for Shopify, Loop offers a variety of tools for Shopify.
- Helps encourage customers to opt for exchanges with incentives like bonus credit.
Pricing
- Started: $29/month.
- Essential: $155/month.
- Advanced: $299/month
G2 Rating: 4.7/5
4. AfterShip
AfterShip offers a returns management solution that helps you leverage its global carrier network to facilitate returns pickups, label generation, and return drop-offs at over 310,000 locations. It also helps you offer in-app and in-store exchanges with incentives such as store credit.
Key Benefits
- Helps offer customers flexible return resolution by supporting on-store and instance exchanges.
- Helps create automated workflows to identify and prevent return fraud by analyzing returns frequency for certain customers and weight discrepancies.
- Helps facilitate individual item returns and bundled purchases to prevent full-bundle returns.
Pricing
- Essential: $19/month, billed annually.
- Pro: $40/month, billed annually.
- Premium: $199/month, billed annually.
- Enterprise: contact sales.
G2 Rating: 4.7/5
5. Yayloh
Yayloh offers a returns management tool that is specifically designed for fashion brands. It helps you automate your returns and exchange processes to enable your teams to focus on value-added tasks rather than repetitive ones.
Key Benefits
- Offers a centralized returns data dashboard and dataset exports.
- Sanctions auto refunds based on specific triggers.
- Collects and organizes customer data to help you reduce returns while improving your customer experience.
Pricing
Yayloh offers a single plan that starts at $190 per month and is tailored to your needs.
G2 Rating: 4.6/5
6. Return Rabbit
Return Rabbit (formerly known as AspenCX) offers a returns management solution that supports Shopify brands with tools that help drive 5 times the ROI through returns. It helps you automate your returns and exchange process through innovative technology and superior support that helps drive your customer’s post-purchase experience.
Key Benefits
- Helps you create a personalized returns and exchange portal that reflects your brand to offer customers a seamless experience and help you promote your offerings.
- Offers a centralized dashboard to analyze shopper behavior and schedule reports.
- Supports decision-making with robust analytics that helps you understand the efficiency of your operations.
Pricing
- Free Plan: $0/month (doesn’t include dedicated customer support), billed annually.
- Startup: $250/month, billed annually.
- Growth: $450/month, billed annually.
- Market Leader: $650/month, billed annually.
G2 Rating: 4.5/5
7. ReturnLogic
ReturnLogic’s returns management platform helps simplify complex returns, delivers exceptional pre as well as post-purchase customer experiences, and generates actionable insights to help you drive growth and productivity.
Key Benefits
- Helps incentivize customer actions through features like free shipping, exchanges, and bonus credit.
- Allows you to build complete end-to-end workflow automation with unlimited returns and exchange policies (including policies specific to the holiday season).
- Offers pre-built integrations with leading business tools.
Pricing
- Usage Based: Free, ranging from $3.90 to $0.25 per return, with no subscription or platform fees.
- Enterprise: Contact sales.
G2 Rating: 4.7/5
8. Reclaimit
Reclaimit offers a dedicated returns management platform that optimizes your returns and exchange processes for customers and businesses across channels (in-store, online, and marketplaces). It offers native integrations with local European e-commerce platforms and carriers, making it an excellent option for businesses targeting the location.
Key Benefits
- Connects you with carriers and helps manage flexible returns with their TA platform.
- Integrates seamlessly with all business systems through prebuilt integrations and Reclaimit API.
- Offers a branded digital returns portal on your website to make registering and tracking returns easy.
Pricing: Contact sales.
G2 Rating: Not available.
9. Ordoro
Ordoro offers a newly launched returns management software that helps you manage your returns and exchanges efficiently. It offers a broad range of capabilities to help streamline your operations.
Key Benefits
- Helps create and track Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) from the original order directly.
- Allows you to email return labels to your customers for a swifter returns process.
- Co-relates inventory to restock the returned items, helping you drive sales.
Pricing: Contact sales.
G2 Rating: 4.8/5
10. FarEye
FarEye offers a returns management tool that helps minimize manual errors, expedite returns cycles, and drive accuracy. It helps facilitate transparent returns and exchange policies and effective and regular communication with customers across platforms to help drive customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.
Key Benefits
- Offers real-time communication to ensure all stakeholders remain informed about Return to Origin (RTO) requests.
- Helps optimize returns transportation costs by combining multiple return shipments into fuller and fewer loads to drive efficiency.
- Allows you to embed a branded returns portal on your website to facilitate a seamless post-purchase experience for your customers.
Pricing: Contact sales.
G2 Rating: 4.7/5
Key Features to Look for in Returns Management Software
Onboarding an e-commerce returns management software opens doors to a variety of robust features that don’t just streamline your returns operations but also enhance its efficiency to drive customer experience and productivity.
Here’s a look at the Key Benefits of a returns management solution:
1. Easy returns initiation and label generation
Returns management tools empower customers to initiate returns on a user-friendly on-brand returns portal. After that, the software generates a Returns Merchandise Authorization Request or an RMA and creates a shipping label that the customer must print and use.
2. Instant refund processing
Process refunds automatically once the return requests have been approved. Return management tools monitor refunds’ status and create refund reports to help businesses handle the returns process from start to finish. They also ensure that customers are kept updated about the process and receive the refunds as soon as possible.
3. Seamless inventory management
Returns management solutions keep your inventory levels updated, flagging which offerings have been restocked and which need to be removed. This ensures you have updated inventory data and helps make informed decisions regarding product returns, restocking, etc.
4. Insightful reports and analytics
A returns management platform tracks and records all processes to create analytics reports that give you insight into top return reasons, return trends, which offerings are getting returns most often, and other crucial data that can help you drive efficiency and reduce your return rates.
5. Facilitates personalized return status communication
Returns management solutions update your customer with the status of their return and exchange requests as the process progresses. Moreover, you can personalize the communication across platforms depending on your customers and brand voice.
6. Seamless integration with your tech stack
Lastly, returns management software integrates with your existing tech stack, from e-commerce business systems to shipping provider platforms and warehouse management systems. This ensures a positive and smooth customer experience and helps you manage your entire returns process from a single platform.
How Do You Choose the Right Returns Management Software?
Selecting the right returns management tool can be daunting. After all, with so many options to choose from, choosing the right one can seem like looking for a needle in a haystack. But worry not because we’re here to help you brush the unnecessary hay away to uncover your needle.
How? With a curated list of what to look for when booking demos and discussing returns management tools with eager sales reps. Let’s dive in!
Customer self-service returns portal
Your chosen software must facilitate a self-service return portal customized to your brand. This is essential to help customers initiate and track returns and exchange requests without contacting your customer support. Further, the portal must be able to register requests based on your business’s returns and exchange policy to keep processes streamlined.
Automation capabilities
A robust returns management software automates a chunk of the return process. Typically speaking, this involves organizing requests as per return reasons, generating shipping labels, approving or rejecting requests, updating inventory, sanctioning refunds, and triggering exchanges.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Customizable return policies
Your chosen software must allow you to customize your returns policies about returns and exchange restrictions (sales periods, discount codes) and return and exchange windows. It must also be able to handle out-of-stock orders and non-delivered ones. This customization is crucial to offering your customers a seamless and consistent returns experience.
Ability to support revenue retention initiatives
A best-in-class solution also helps you retain customers requesting returns by offering them incentives such as store credit, exchanges, discounts, etc. Further, it must also help upsell complementary products based on customer preferences.
Ease of scalability
Your chosen returns management solution must be able to keep up with your growth trajectory. This means you must be able to manage the growing number and complexity of returns and exchanges as your business enters new markets and your customer base grows.
Conclusion
Put simply, robust returns management software isn’t just a convenience – it’s a survival tactic for e-commerce businesses today. With the right tool, you don’t just smooth out your returns process but also win over that 92% of shoppers who desire effortless returns and exchanges.
Returns management software with its returns authorization feature, swift customer communication, inventory management, and deep operational insight helps you turn your returns logistics nightmare into a golden opportunity to drive growth and customer loyalty.
While you have a concise list of the top returns management software providers to get you started on your journey of selecting the right tool for your tech stack, we recommend you begin with LateShipment.com to find what you’re looking for in the shortest time possible.
Supercharge your returns management process with LateShipment.com.
Sign up for a 30-day free trial and see how you can fully automate and make returns self-service for you and your customers alike.
FAQs
What is returns management software?
Returns management software is a solution that helps you automate your returns management process. It offers features such as returns authorization, returns processing, inventory management, swift customer communication, and insight into the efficiency of your returns process.
How do you manage returns?
The best way to manage your returns is to onboard a returns management software like LateShipment.com. It helps you create a branded return and exchange portal, offers downloadable shipping labels, enforces return and exchange policies, and more to help streamline your returns management operations.
What is the best returns management solution?
LateShipment.com’s returns management experience software offers the best returns management software. With this in your tech stack, you can create on-brand returns and exchange portals, offer customers self-serve return lookups, implement customized return rules, automate label generation, and more.
