Ecommerce Reverse Logistics

When the Return Trip Starts Quietly Eating Your Margin

Most ecommerce playbooks focus on getting products out the door. You spend time polishing product pages, dialing in ad spend, and tuning your checkout. If everything goes well, orders flow in and boxes flow out. Then the boomerang effect starts. Returns show up in small numbers at first, then in steady waves. They arrive from every region, in every condition, with every kind of note in the box. That is when ecommerce reverse logistics stops being an afterthought and becomes one of the most important, and expensive, parts of your operation.

Returns are not just an inconvenience. They are a full mirror of your business. They reflect product quality, sizing accuracy, packaging, shipping performance, customer expectations, and the strength of your processes. Brands that underestimate reverse logistics often find themselves paying for the same order three times: once to ship it out, once to bring it back, and once more to replace or dispose of it. Brands that take reverse logistics seriously treat the return path as a designed system rather than a messy exception.

Why Ad Hoc Returns Handling Breaks Down

At small scale, returns are easy to improvise. Someone on the team opens incoming boxes, checks condition, emails support about edge cases, and makes judgment calls. Inventory is updated whenever there is a spare moment. That sort of hand crafted process cannot survive growth. As volumes rise, those same steps turn into a bottleneck. Returned units sit in limbo. Customers wait for refunds. Support tickets stack up because nobody can say for sure where anything is.

Maureen Milligan, Director of Operations and Projects at G10, sees the pattern in brands arriving from other providers. She explains that "most of the customers who come to us from another 3PL, their challenges have always been access to their data, order accuracy and efficiency, and meeting the committed requirements." Reverse logistics sits right at the intersection of those challenges. If you cannot see returns clearly, you cannot process them quickly or keep promises about refunds and exchanges.

Designing a Returns Flow Instead of a Pile

Good ecommerce reverse logistics begins by treating returns as their own flow, not just as messy inbound. When a parcel lands at the dock, it should enter a defined path: receive, scan, inspect, classify, route. Each step needs rules your team understands and a system that records decisions. That is the difference between a stack of opened boxes in a corner and a process that turns returned inventory back into value.

Connor Perkins, Director of Fulfillment at G10, is blunt about the foundation. He says that "you want everything to be scanned in the warehouse, nothing done on paper." That rule matters just as much for returns as for outbound orders. If a returned item is not scanned, the system does not know it exists. If it is scanned but not classified, nobody knows whether it is available for resale, bound for refurbishment, or headed to disposal. Scanning turns every return into a trackable asset, even when the outcome is eventual write off.

Inspection Rules That Do Not Depend on Mood

Inspection is where subjectivity can sneak in. One worker might consider a slightly dented box acceptable for resale. Another might send it to the scrap bin. Over time, those tiny differences create an inventory swamp where nobody can explain why certain units are missing or why damage rates appear higher than they should. A mature reverse logistics operation replaces guesswork with defined categories and clear decision trees.

Joel Malmquist, VP of Customer Experience at G10, describes how this works in practice. He explains that when returns come in, "it looks good, we are going to restock this, or it looks damaged, we are going to either dispose of it or put it in a quarantine area." That simple language hides a lot of discipline. Restockable items get returned to available inventory. Quarantine items wait for further action, whether that is vendor review, donation, or destruction. Nothing just drifts along the wall.

Reverse Logistics as a Data Source, Not Just a Cost Center

Every return carries information. Maybe the product did not match sizing expectations. Maybe the description on the site was unclear. Maybe the carrier was rough and damaged the packaging. Maybe the customer ordered three sizes intending to keep one. If you do not capture those signals, you simply pay the bill without learning anything.

Connor points out that G10 clients "can see their daily orders, they can see KPIs, and they can see historical transactions." When reverse logistics is wired into that same reporting, you can see which SKUs generate the highest return rates, which reasons dominate, and which channels or regions behave differently. That lets product teams refine materials, merchandising teams refine descriptions, and operations teams refine packaging. The goal is not just to handle returns efficiently, but to reduce avoidable returns over time.

Using Packaging to Win or Lose the Second Trip

Packaging rarely gets enough credit for its role in reverse logistics. Boxes that barely survive outbound transit will almost certainly fail on the trip back. Loose inserts turn into damage. Confusing label placement turns into misrouted parcels. Smart packaging design anticipates the possibility of return. It protects the product twice and makes it obvious where the customer should place the label and paperwork.

Because G10 also focuses on packaging optimization and kitting, it connects outbound design to inbound experience. If a particular carton style shows a high damage rate on returns, the team can flag it, test alternatives, and fine tune the standard. Packaging becomes part of the return strategy instead of a sunk cost.

Reverse Logistics Across Multi Node Networks

As brands grow and use multi node fulfillment, returns get more complex. A package might ship from Nevada but return to Wisconsin. A customer might send a product back to the node that is closest to them, not the one that originally fulfilled the order. Without a unified view of inventory, those movements can create double counting, stranded stock, and frustrated planners.

G10’s network, with facilities in South Carolina, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, and Texas, solves this with ChannelPoint as the central brain. Returned items are tied to their original order and SKU, not just to whichever dock they happen to hit. When an item is restocked, every node sees the update. That keeps reverse logistics from fragmenting the inventory story into regional myths.

Reverse Logistics for B2B and Retail Is Even Less Forgiving

Consumer returns are one kind of challenge. B2B and retail returns are another. When a retailer sends back a pallet, it often comes with its own documentation, conditions, and deadlines. The quantities involved are higher, the financial stakes bigger, and the relationships more sensitive. Treating those returns like ordinary ecommerce parcels is an easy way to damage a wholesale program.

Because G10 was built with B2B and retail in mind, its reverse logistics processes already account for routing guides, ASN corrections, and pallet level reconciliation. The same systems that build compliant outbound loads also track what comes back. That means you can handle overstocks, seasonal resets, or product refreshes without turning your warehouse into a maze of half opened pallets and unlabeled cartons.

Customer Communication During Returns Makes or Breaks the Experience

Customers judge reverse logistics by how it feels. Was the return easy to initiate? Did they understand where to ship the item? Did they get timely confirmation when it arrived? How long did the refund take? You can have flawless internal processes and still frustrate people if the communication does not match the operational reality.

Bryan Wright, CTO and COO at G10, explains that a good WMS "tracks inventory at every point that you touch it." When that tracking is integrated with your ecommerce platforms, support tools, and notification systems, customers do not have to guess. They can see when their package arrived at the 3PL, when it was processed, and when the refund was issued. That transparency turns a potentially negative experience into a neutral or even positive one.

Turning Reverse Logistics Into a Strategic Lever

Handled badly, reverse logistics is a hole in the bottom of the bucket. Handled well, it can become a competitive advantage. Generous, efficient returns policies can increase conversion, especially for categories like apparel, footwear, and high consideration items. Fast turn on returns can put resellable units back into circulation before the season or promotion ends. Clear insights from return reasons can shape better products and marketing.

Mark Becker, CEO and founder of G10, likes to work with brands that plan to grow. He says that "we are going to grow with them." Growing with them means paying attention to the part of the journey that most people do not want to think about. The routes back. If your current reverse logistics process feels like a dark corner of the business where money disappears and customers go quiet, it may be time to shine light on it with a 3PL that treats returns as seriously as outbound orders.

Designing the Return Path on Purpose

Ecommerce reverse logistics will never be as glamorous as a product launch or a viral campaign. But it does not have to be a chaotic drain. With clear processes, strong scanning discipline, multi node visibility, and thoughtful packaging, the return path can become just another well run flow in your operation. Customers get quick resolutions. Inventory records stay accurate. Teams spend less time sorting piles and more time improving the whole system.

If you are seeing growing piles of returned product, rising refund costs, and a support queue full of Where is my refund messages, it is a sign that reverse logistics has outgrown your current setup. That is the right moment to talk to G10 about building a return path that works as hard as your outbound operation does. The second trip does not have to be the painful one.