How a National Sporting Goods Retailer Improved Recovery, Working Capital, and Returns Efficiency

A premier national sporting goods retailer operating more than 175 stores across the United States and Canada relied on a third-party provider to manage returns and reverse logistics. As returns volume grew, the retailer began to experience operational inefficiencies, delayed recovery, and declining returns on liquidation. These challenges ultimately limited visibility into vendor settlements and constrained the retailer’s ability to manage working capital effectively.

The retailer’s previous reverse logistics provider relied on outdated tools that could notsupport the complexity or scale of modern returns. Return-to-vendor items often took up to 120 days to process, creating vendor dissatisfaction and tying upmore than $1.1 million in working capital. Liquidation recovery rates were extremely low, while per-unit processing fees further eroded margins.

The retailer identified an opportunity to replace its legacy returns program with a more transparent, data-driven solution. Leadership sought a partner capable of improving recovery outcomes while accelerating settlement timelines and reducing operational friction. Any new approach needed to scale across hundreds of locations while delivering measurable financial impact.

ReturnProimplemented a phased returns transformation combining SaaS, supply chain execution, and recommerce services. The retailer integrated ReturnPro’s platform with its eCommerce systems, enabling intelligent policy management,faster RTV processing, and real-time visibility. Returned goods were refurbished, restored, or resold through optimized channels to maximize recovery and reduce waste.

The new returns model delivered significant financial and operational improvements across theorganization. Faster processing reduced working capital constraints, while improved recovery strategies increased net returns value. The retailer also gained end-to-end visibility into returns performance, enabling better vendor relationships and forecasting.

• $3.4Mprojected net financial uplift
• $28Min credits achieved in the first year
• $368Kworking capital improvement
• Recoveryon B2C units increased to 70%

Following early success, the retailer continues to expand ReturnPro’s capabilities across additional categories and facilities. Ongoing enhancements focus on accelerating settlement timelines, improving refurbishment yields, and scaling automation. This partnership provides a flexible foundation to support future growth and evolving returns complexity.