KING OF PRUSSIA, PA — Radial Inc. is integrating Two Boxes’ returns-management technology into its fulfillment operations as retailers contend with high ecommerce return rates, fraud and the cost of getting returned merchandise back into sellable inventory.
Radial, a third-party logistics provider that plans to rebrand as Paxon later this year, will use Two Boxes to replace manual and paper-based returns processes with guided inspections, photographic documentation and rules governing how returned products are handled.
The system allows retailers to determine whether merchandise should be restocked, repaired, liquidated, donated or recycled, with an emphasis on reducing processing time and recovering more inventory value.
The partnership comes as returns have become a significant cost center for ecommerce retailers, particularly in apparel and footwear, where return rates can approach 30%, according to Radial.
Research conducted by Radial and Two Boxes found 44% of retailers surveyed identified returns fraud and abuse as the largest problem in their returns operations. Nearly half continued to manage returns internally, according to the companies.
“Returns have evolved into a critical moment for retailers that shapes profitability, inventory performance and brand perception,” Shauna Bowen, Radial’s executive vice president and chief digital and transformation officer, stated.
Radial and Two Boxes report that the technology can process returns as much as three times faster, increase restock rates by at least 20% and reduce fraudulent returns by as much as 94% when refunds are issued after inspection. The companies did not provide underlying customer-level data or methodology for those performance figures in the release.
A key component is post-inspection refunding, which allows retailers to evaluate returned merchandise before completing a refund rather than relying solely on information supplied during the return process.
Two Boxes Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Kyle Bertin characterized returns as the “next frontier” for large third-party logistics providers, citing faster processing, fraud reduction and inventory recovery as priorities.
For Radial, the integration adds returns processing to a broader fulfillment operation as the company prepares for its transition to the Paxon name. Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed.
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