ReturnLogic Raises $8.5M to Expand Returns Management Software

investments

Returns management software provider ReturnLogic has raised $8.5 million in a Series A funding round, according to a Tuesday (Aug. 9) press release.

Based in Philadelphia, ReturnLogic provides software for eCommerce brands and retailers. The company said in the release it will use the capital to double its workforce, speed up product development and extend application programming interface (API) capabilities to new eCommerce platforms.

“Online sales in the U.S. last year reached $1.05 trillion, and approximately $218 billion of that was returned, according to the National Retail Federation,” the company said in the release. “Returns create a massive expense line for retailers; however, the underlying problem is the mishandling of returns due to operational deficiencies.”

As PYMNTS has noted in regard to the National Retail Federation (NRF) numbers, returns on digital sales also cost much more to process and represented a larger percentage of fraud.

Read more: Rising Retail Returns Outpace Growth of Online Sales

This included “wardrobing” — when someone wears an item once before returning it — along with the unreceipted return of stolen goods and employee theft or collusion.

ReturnLogic’s SaaS platform powers return workflows and operations, uniting reverse logistics technology solutions like CRM, 3PL, IMS and shipping services into one platform, according to the release.

Retailers then get data to make product, process, manufacturing and procurement changes, which in turn can help improve the customer experiences and the company’s bottom line. The company said in the release its API can plug into any eCommerce platform with returns operations.

“Despite the explosive growth of the eCommerce sector, retailers and brands have continued to struggle with the substantial financial impacts of returns,” said ReturnLogic Founder and CEO Peter Sobotta in the release. “Our vision is to be the operating system for returns.”

The Series A round was led by Mercury, with participation from Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Fund, White Rose Ventures and Ben Franklin Technology Partners, according to the release.