Dive Brief:
- Happy Returns has launched a capability for enterprise retailers' stores to accept online returns from different brands, the UPS company announced Tuesday.
- E-commerce giant Shein is one of the first brands to use the solution, with its customers able to make a box-free return of their online orders at Forever 21's more than 300 stores in the continental U.S.
- “We are always looking for new ways to optimize the shopping experience for SHEIN customers – from speedier delivery to easy returns,” said George Chiao, Shein U.S. President, in the announcement. “Happy Returns has pioneered a seamless, simple returns model and we are excited to launch this offering across hundreds of Forever 21 stores across the country.”
Dive Insight:
Since being acquired by UPS last year, Happy Returns has been able to connect with larger enterprises easier, CEO and co-founder David Sobie said in an interview with sister publication Supply Chain Dive. While some of these companies have the capability to accept in-store returns of online orders, they've had trouble getting one brand's store to take in another brand's returns.
"It's really hard to take somebody else's stuff in your store and to know what to do with it, where to send it and how to train your store associates," Sobie said. "We look at this as being a real key development in our offering stack to be able to go serve the largest enterprises."
The solution can work with any returns portal, be it from Happy Returns or the retailer itself, to generate QR codes for shopper returns. Happy Returns also provides software that allows a store to receive and verify cross-brand returns. Once a return is dropped off, Happy Returns can provide reverse logistics options to move inventory to its desired location.
For the Shein-Forever 21 solution that launched nationwide in April, a QR code is generated through Shein's returns portal for the shopper to use, Sobie said. Software in Forever 21's stores reads the QR code, and a store associate verifies that the shopper returned the correct item. The returns are aggregated and shipped out together to Shein warehouses.
Even if the Forever 21 store isn't selling the product, it still provides a way to get shoppers in the door and land a sale that otherwise may not have happened. Forever 21 is offering a same-day discount for Shein shoppers once they complete their return, CEO Winnie Park said in the announcement.
Shein and the Sparc Group, Forever 21's operator and a minority shareholder in Shein, reached a deal last year in which both companies could distribute each other's products.
"There are a lot of other businesses where we think this is gonna be relevant, a lot of other businesses that have multiple brands under the same kind of corporate structure," Sobie said.
