Returns by invent.ai

Transform the returns process into a strategic advantage by protecting margins, recovering value and ensuring inventory continues to drive sales.

Download our white paper on Inventory Intelligence

20-50%

increased sales

2-5%

decreased liquidations

<90 day

transformation results

Turn returns into revenue

Returns are inevitable, but they don’t have to erode margins or disrupt operations. Traditional processes are reactive and slow, leaving merchandise underutilized and revenue at risk.

Invent.ai’s returns solution transforms inventory into a strategic advantage. By predicting return patterns, analyzing inventory positions and optimizing resale paths, it ensures items are repositioned where they’ll sell fastest and at full price.

AI-driven returns that protect revenue and maximize sell-through

Invent.ai predicts return patterns, analyzes inventory positions, and optimizes resale paths—ensuring returned items are positioned where they’ll sell fastest and at full price. The platform turns every return into a revenue opportunity, helping teams act confidently while protecting margins and improving inventory utilization.

With invent.ai, retailers can:

Recover revenue

Redirect returned items to maximize sell-through and minimize markdowns.

Reduce operational costs

Streamline processing and cut unnecessary handling and shipping.

Automate intelligently

Predict return likelihood and optimal resale routes to free up team bandwidth.

Adapt dynamically

Adjust return allocations in real-time based on demand and constraints.

Track performance

Monitor returns to identify trends and refine future strategies.

Why choose invent.ai for returns?

Invent.ai combines predictive intelligence, automation and real-time data to ensure every return contributes to revenue and margin. Our solution enables retailers to:

Forecast and plan for return volumes with greater accuracy
Reposition items to the stores, channels or regions where they’ll sell fastest
Automate exception-based workflows while retaining full control
Recover value without sacrificing customer experience
Continuously refine decisions with insights from prior returns

The science behind it

Invent.ai analyzes sales, returns and inventory to optimize item allocation across locations and channels. Automated recommendations, exception alerts and continuous learning help retailers reduce loss and boost revenue.

Unlock value from returns with AI-powered insights

With invent.ai, retailers turn returns into revenue opportunities using predictive insights, automated workflows and real-time visibility.

Here’s how:

Predict optimal return paths – Determine the best discounting strategies and resale channels
Automate workflows – Streamline processing and reduce manual effort
Real-time visibility – Track returns across stores, warehouses and online channels
Continuous optimization – Learn from past returns to improve future handling

The result: maximized recovered value, smoother operations and confident inventory decisions that protect margins and enhance the customer experience.

FAQ

Understanding returns in retail

How big is the problem of retail returns today?

Total retail returns are increasing annually, and returned online shopping purchases that are returned in store are among the key drivers of return rates. The scale underscores the need to manage merchandise returns efficiently across the supply chain.

How do return policies shape the customer experience and return rates?

Well-designed return policies improve the customer experience while influencing return rates. Since 82% of consumers value free returns, many retailers offer them, which can raise return rates; setting clear return windows helps manage expectations and risk.

What is the role of reverse logistics in controlling costs?

Reverse logistics—the end-to-end flow of returned goods—drives substantial operational costs and affects return processing times. Because many items can't be resold at full price, handling and restocking across merchandise returns adds labor and logistics costs that erode margins.

How do wardrobing and bracketing in online shopping drive returns?

Wardrobing and bracketing—buying multiple items to wear or compare before returning—are common in online shopping and push up return rates. These patterns contribute to higher volumes of merchandise returns and stress reverse logistics. Retailers must have an end-to-end view of all returns and their purchase channels, and invent.ai not only makes it easier to visualize all the “moving” inventory but identify what’s likely to happen and optimize operations to protect margin accordingly.

How can retailers reduce return abuse and return fraud without harming the customer experience?

Combat return abuse and return fraud with balanced return policies and anti-fraud controls that protect the customer experience. AI-enabled pattern detection helps flag abuse problems at scale while preserving fair and responsive service. Regardless, returns optimization starts with a clear picture of what’s happening and why.

How can a data-driven platform help manage return shipping, return processing and restocking to protect margins?

A data-driven platform uses machine learning to forecast demand from historical sales, seasonality, promotions and external factors, enabling automated replenishment and allocation and centralized AI-driven decision making. Our AI-Decisioning Platform improves return shipping, return processing and restocking through real-time visibility and strategic exception handling, helping protect margins.

How does a platform designed for large retailers help manage returns?

For large retailers, the platform provides centralized AI-driven decision making, automated replenishment and allocation, and promotion–inventory alignment. With real-time visibility and analytics, our AI-Decisioning Platform helps reduce merchandise returns and optimize margin around retail returns across planning, inventory and pricing.