FedEx, Happy Returns Partner on QR Code-Powered Returns

Need to Know 

• FedEx has partnered up with Happy Returns to provide easy in-person returns of online orders.
• With just a QR code, customers can drop off an item at one of 2,000 FedEx locations and process a return in just a few minutes.
• Happy Returns’ technology makes for easy returns that reduce costs for both parties and reduce harmful emissions.
• In an effort to digitize its operations, FedEx has made a number of new partnerships this year.

Analysis

FedEx has announced a partnership with Happy Returns, a returns solutions provider that allows customers to make easy in-person returns of online orders. The new return service will launch in Los Angeles and expand to more than 2,000 FedEx office locations across the U.S. by the end of October. 

When a customer starts a return online from a Happy Returns retail partner, like Everlane or Revolve for example, they will receive a QR code associated with the item. The customer then simply brings the item into one of the FedEx drop-off locations, dubbed “return bars”—no need for a box or label—to process the return or exchange in mere minutes. 

Using Happy Returns’ technology, FedEx then sends multiple items from one retailer back to in one shipment, reducing the cost for both parties and saving on fuel emissions. 

“We are very excited to work with Happy Returns as we make the returns experience more convenient for shoppers while also streamlining the process for merchants,” said Ryan Kelly, FedEx’s vice president of global e-commerce marketing. “The packing experts at FedEx Office are ready to help customers, no box or label needed.”

Given the massive increase in online shopping since the onset of the pandemic, the returns process has also become a bit more complicated. Happy Returns’ Return Bars allow for a streamlined sustainable approach to returns that “keeps goods flowing, even if stores close again, to prevent a backlog of returns during the shutdown, or a flood after reopening.” 

“In a time of retail uncertainty due to the coronavirus, it is incredibly valuable to add an essential services provider like FedEx Office to our growing network,” said Happy Returns CEO David Sobie in a statement.

Earlier this year, FedEx also partnered with Freightos.com, an online freight marketplace that will help digitize the customs process and allow for smoother international trade. In further efforts to digitize, FedEx has also partnered with Microsoft and launched a new sensor-based tracking system to help trace future COVID-19 vaccine shipments.