Returns and exchanges are a critical part of retail operations, but manual processing creates delays and errors. Staff spend hours searching for orders, verifying eligibility, calculating refunds, and updating inventory across multiple systems.
Automation captures return requests, validates them against policy rules, processes refunds instantly, and updates inventory in real time. Customers receive immediate confirmation, and the team reclaims hours each week.
The full workflow, from trigger to completion.
A customer submits a return or exchange request via email, web form, or in-store. The request is captured and parsed to extract customer contact, item details, and reason.
The automation queries to find the original order using the customer email, order number, or item SKU. Order details, price, and purchase date are retrieved automatically.
The automation compares the order date, item type, and return reason against the business's return policy rules. the automation flags the return as approved, denied, or escalated for manual review.
If the request is an exchange, the automation checks inventory in real time to confirm the replacement item is in stock and available.
The automation calculates the refund amount based on the original price and applies any applicable deductions. It then initiates the refund automatically.
Inventory counts are updated automatically: the returned item is added back to stock, and any exchanged item is decremented. No manual spreadsheet entry is needed.
A personalized confirmation email is sent to the customer with the refund amount, expected timeline, and any next steps. The email is generated from a template and sent automatically.
Return details are automatically logged to a Google Sheet for reporting and analytics. The sheet is updated in real time with no manual data entry.
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