How to manage returns in an omnichannel model? Operational challenges and recommended processes

Returns in an omnichannel model should work as one coherent process, whatever channel the customer bought in and whatever channel they hand the product back through. In practice that means a shared case identifier, uniform rules across every channel, data exchange between sales and warehouse systems, automated parcel routing, and refunds synchronized with stock. A large organization selling through an online store, a mobile app, marketplaces and a physical retail network cannot afford to let each channel settle returns on its own.

Simply offering several ways to send a product back does not yet make the process mature. Real integration is decided by whether the company can recognize the order, the customer and the status of the case regardless of channel, and whether it can run the physical and financial flow of a return without rebuilding data by hand. How do you design omnichannel returns handling so that the customer gains convenience while the organization keeps control over cost, stock and operational accountability? The guide below answers that question.

What will you learn from this article? In brief

• This article draws mainly on data from the Alsendo report “Returns in Polish e-commerce 2026”.
• 12% of the Polish companies surveyed vary their return rules by sales channel, which shows the scale of the risk: an inconsistent customer experience and poor communication between the online store and the marketplace.
• 38% of companies rate system and IT problems as one of the most serious challenges in returns handling, and 36% point to difficulties in the warehouse process once the goods have already been received.
• 55% of returned products go back into full-price sale, so the time needed to inspect items and make stock available again has a direct economic impact.
• The target process covers: identifying the return, choosing the channel, automated routing, quality control, the decision on what happens to the product next, the refund, and KPI analysis.

What are omnichannel returns? One process regardless of the purchase channel

An omnichannel return lets the customer start and finish the process in different channels while the organization keeps a single record of the order, the product, the refund and the operational status. Multichannel means only parallel presence in several channels, which often run on separate rules and separate data. The omnichannel model goes one step further: when a customer buys a product in the app but hands it back in a physical store, a well-integrated system should recognize the order, trigger a refund to the original payment method and update stock in the right location.

A consistent experience does not have to mean identical handling for every product, though. Rules can depend on category, condition, location, value or transport restrictions, as long as the customer learns those conditions before buying.

The growing popularity of multichannel selling confirms the scale of the shift. 35% of the Polish e-commerce companies surveyed combine sales in their own store with a presence on marketplaces. Academic work on reverse logistics in omnichannel retail stresses the need to integrate stock, customer databases, orders and payments so that the customer can return a product regardless of the original purchase channel.

For a sales director the commercial effect matters just as much: 76% of companies observe that easy returns increase customers’ willingness to make higher-value purchases, and 69% point to the influence of return policy on loyalty and buying decisions.

Table 1. Multichannel and omnichannel returns compared

Area	Multichannel model	Omnichannel model	Operational significance
Order identification	separate in each channel	shared or mutually accessible	less manual searching
Return policy	may differ, with no shared logic	differences are controlled and communicated	lower risk of contradictory information
Stock	updated locally	visible across the whole network	faster decisions about resale
Refunds	handled separately	linked to return status	greater control over SLA
Data and reporting	fragmented	unified	comparable KPIs

The difference between the two models shows up above all in the data and stock layer, not in the number of available return channels. A company may offer exactly the same drop-off options as a competitor running an omnichannel model, but without a shared order identifier it will struggle to control cost, the duration of the whole process and its SLA — the service-time standard agreed with sales, the customer or the logistics partner.

Why are omnichannel returns operationally difficult? Every channel triggers different data and responsibilities

Picture the situation: a customer sends a marketplace order back through a parcel locker, and the store books the return only days later because data from the locker network does not flow automatically into the sales system. By then the customer is already chasing the refund. The greatest difficulty lies in synchronizing systems, people, locations and settlements that in many organizations grew up as separate processes.

The scale of returns — companies often do not know their own numbers

The Alsendo report “Returns in Polish e-commerce 2026” points to a surprising conclusion: one third of the companies surveyed could not say what share of their sales comes back as returns, and among those that gave a figure the average declared rate was 3.5%. That gap makes it harder to plan resources and investment in automation, especially as an organization grows and adds channels, countries or brands. Our study covered 300 e-commerce companies, with micro and small businesses making up 90% of the sample; among larger, multichannel sellers these problems usually intensify rather than disappear.

Respondents to the Alsendo study rated which areas of returns handling cause them the most difficulty:

• Customer abuse, for example returning used or substituted products, is treated as a serious problem by 51% of companies, which forces them to introduce clear quality-control criteria.
• The financial cost of returns, covering delivery, handling and loss of product value, is a significant challenge for 45% of respondents.
• 38% of companies point to system and IT problems, including a lack of integration or automation tools, and this translates directly into the number of operations performed manually.
• The post-return warehouse process, covering inspection and putting goods back on sale, causes difficulty for 36% of businesses.
• Logistics issues such as seasonal overload and limited warehouse space are reported by 34% of companies.
• Without a single return identifier, the employee receiving a product cannot see the full order history or the decisions taken earlier.
• Inconsistent quality-control criteria between channels lead to inconsistent decisions about what happens next to the same type of product.
• Separating the refund from the physical status of the product increases the risk of paying out twice, or of the customer waiting a long time for their money.

Data silos and divergent rules — a source of bad decisions

Data silos mean the employee receiving a return cannot see the full history of the order, the payment or earlier decisions about the product. Without a shared customer and order identifier, every system — the in-store POS, the e-commerce platform, the marketplace panel — stores its own version of the truth. Differing data formats and delays in exchanging information between POS, OMS, WMS and ERP lead to the organization recording the same return twice, or not at all, while separate rules per country, brand and channel make it harder for staff to decide quickly.

Inconsistent product catalogs also increase the risk of misidentifying returned goods, particularly when the same product appears under different codes in several systems. In extreme cases this leads to double refunds, or to difficulty in detecting unusual and potentially abusive customer behavior.

Dispersed goods and refunds — two streams that have to be synchronized

The physical return and the financial refund travel along different paths, yet a single case status has to hold them together. The organization must decide when it treats a return as closed: only after full quality control, or already at notification, with the option to correct that in exceptional cases. High-value products usually need extra verification before money is released, while goods received in a store but routed onward to a central warehouse generate transfer costs and extend the process.

Settlements between channels, stores and business units complicate accounting, particularly when a product was sold in one channel and received in another. Recording the time taken at each stage, from notification to case closure, lets the company see which part of the process is genuinely delaying the product’s return to sale.

What should an omnichannel returns process look like? 8 stages from notification to value recovery

The target process should carry a return from digital notification through to case closure and reuse of the product, without losing data between channels. The eight stages below show how to organize that process so that every channel works from the same data and the same decision rules.

• Return notification — the customer selects the order, the product, the reason for the return and their preferred way of sending it back. The form should verify the basic conditions immediately and show the options available for that specific product.
• Creating the RMA identifier (Return Merchandise Authorization) — the system links the notification to the customer, the order, the payment and the specific unit of the product. The identifier has to be available to sales, customer service, logistics and finance.
• Choosing the drop-off channel — the customer receives a label, a code, or the option to hand the product back in a store, at a pick-up and drop-off point (PUDO), in a parcel locker, or to a courier collecting from their address. Availability depends on product category, location, size and transport cost.
• Automated routing — the system indicates where the product goes, and that need not be the central warehouse alone. It directs goods to the nearest store, a local hub, a service center, a supplier or an outlet warehouse.
• Tracking and communication — both the customer and the organization see parcel status and subsequent events almost in real time. Clear information about the timing of the next step reduces the number of questions reaching customer service, and well-designed returns management makes it possible to connect this data with the rest of the sales process.
• Receipt and quality control — an employee assesses the product against uniform criteria and assigns it the appropriate condition code. Documentation can additionally include photographs and notes on completeness, signs of use, packaging and serial number.
• Stock update — the product is given its next destination, for example a return to full-price sale, a markdown, repair or a return to the supplier. That decision should immediately change stock status, location and product availability for customers.
• Refund, exchange and case closure — the customer receives their money or a replacement product, and the data feeds reporting. The system should record the duration of each stage, the handling cost, any exceptions and the final value recovered from the product.

The choice of drop-off channel is best based on decision rules rather than on a single universal solution applied to every product.

Table 2. Return channel selection framework

Channel	Customer convenience	Operating cost	Speed of receipt	Best use	Main risk
Physical store	high	depends on onward routing	high for the customer	products that are easy to assess	load on store staff and back office
Parcel locker or PUDO	high	usually predictable	depends on transport	standard parcels	size limits
Courier collection	very high	higher	predictable	larger or high-value products	first-mile cost
Direct to the warehouse	medium	easy to centralize	depends on transport	complex quality control	longer time-to-refund
Local hub or service point	depends on the organization	can reduce onward transport	high locally	repairs and cross-border	more steps in the process

No channel is inherently best; the choice depends on the situation. A physical store gives the customer convenience but puts pressure on staff, while courier collection simplifies logistics at the cost of a higher first-mile price. Rather than leaving the decision to chance, the organization should define rules assigning a channel to product category, location and order value.

How do you connect POS, OMS, WMS, ERP and logistics operators? You need one source of status

Integration does not require replacing every system, only agreement on where the return identifier is created and which system is the source of truth for each status. The minimum data model should cover: order number and purchase channel, customer identifier, SKU (the unique product code) and product variant, payment method, notification date, return reason, chosen drop-off channel, transport status, quality-control outcome, refund status, and the time and cost of each stage.

The OMS manages order context, the POS handles receipt in store, the WMS is responsible for the physical condition and location of the product, and the ERP supports settlements and documentation. The CRM and the customer service system, meanwhile, expose the communication history, so a front-line agent does not have to ask the customer for the same information twice.

Process automation — the growing role of notifications and system integration

According to the Alsendo study “Returns in Polish e-commerce 2026”, 83% of companies use automated return status notifications. More advanced solutions are cited less often: 56% of companies declare integration with a logistics operator for label generation and parcel tracking, the same share uses returns modules integrated with e-commerce or ERP systems, and 48% of respondents have invested in a dedicated returns management platform.

The gap between those figures signals a clear distance between basic customer communication and full end-to-end automation. At Alsendo we fill that space with two modules matched to business scale: Alsendo Business Pro for smaller online stores and Alsendo Innoship for larger companies that need full system integration and simultaneous handling of multiple carriers.

How do you measure omnichannel returns performance? KPIs have to combine cost, time, stock and customer experience

Returns performance cannot be judged by how many orders come back alone. Handling time, cost, recovered product value and the number of unusual cases count too. The most commonly declared cost of handling a single return is PLN 10–15, with more than three quarters of responses in the PLN 7–30 range. That figure does not show the full picture: the final cost must also include team time, transport, system handling, loss of product value and the period in which the goods generate no sales. A low return rate is not always success — sometimes it reflects a difficult, discouraging process rather than the quality of the offer.

On top of that, more than half of returned products (55%) go back on sale as full-value goods, and 16% sell at a reduced price or through an outlet. It is worth setting this against time-to-restock, the time from receiving a returned product to making it available for sale again. The shorter it is, the less sales potential is lost.

Table 3. Omnichannel returns KPIs

KPI	How it is calculated	What it shows	Suggested owner
Return rate	number of products returned / number of products sold	the scale of the phenomenon	sales
Cost per return	full process cost / number of returns	cost efficiency	finance and operations
Return cycle time	time from notification to case closure	length of the end-to-end process	operations
Time-to-refund	time from notification or receipt to refund	customer experience	finance and CX
Time-to-restock	time from receipt to renewed availability	lost sales potential	logistics
Recovery rate	value recovered / original product value	profitability of the product’s onward use	finance
Automation share	cases with no manual intervention / all cases	process maturity	IT and operations
Exception rate	returns requiring non-standard handling / all returns	quality of the rules	operations
SLA compliance	cases closed on time / all cases	process predictability	process owner
Share of cross-channel returns	returns received in a different channel / all returns	use made of the omnichannel model	sales and retail

No single indicator describes the whole process, so benchmarks are best set separately for product categories, channels, countries and return reasons rather than judging all returns by one measure. With a million orders a year, a 5% return rate and an average operating cost of PLN 20, handling 50,000 returns means PLN 1 million in direct cost (a model calculation, not a study result, and it excludes loss of value and tied-up stock).

How do you implement omnichannel returns? Start with process mapping, a pilot and exception rules

Implementation is best started by mapping the flows as they actually run, because technology integration alone will not fix contradictory rules or unclear accountability. The eight steps below put the design of omnichannel returns into order:

• Map the current process for every channel, covering notification, transport, receipt, inspection, refund, accounting and re-use of the product.
• Appoint an end-to-end process owner who is accountable for shared KPIs, even if individual stages are carried out by different departments.
• Prepare a dictionary of statuses and return reasons so that the same terms mean the same thing in POS, OMS, WMS, ERP and management reporting.
• Design the policy together with its controlled exceptions, allowing differences between categories and channels as long as they follow deliberate rules rather than chance.
• Choose a pilot scenario, for example one product category, one region, one brand, the BORIS channel (Buy Online, Return In Store) or a selected group of stores.
• Define the integrations and the sequence of events, establishing which system creates the RMA, updates stock, initiates the refund and closes the case.
• Organize training for store, warehouse and customer service staff so that they know both the standard path and the exception procedure.
• Compare results before and after the pilot, analyzing cost, time, the share of automation, the number of exceptions, time-to-restock and customer satisfaction.

It is also worth adding a RACI accountability model (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed), addressing data security and employee permissions, and planning a fallback for moments when an integration is unavailable. Organizations with a particularly complex structure — many brands, several countries or non-standard business logic — may need the dedicated integration approach offered by the Alsendo Enterprise carrier management solution, built around the requirements of large deployments.

How does Alsendo support omnichannel returns? Automation of the logistics layer and visibility of data

We help organizations selling across multiple channels integrate their logistics layer, manage return rules, track parcel statuses and exchange data with their existing sales systems. Our technology platform combines API integration, cooperation with many logistics operators, connections to WMS, ERP, e-commerce and marketplace systems, document and label generation, parcel and return tracking, status notifications, and reporting and analytics.

Omnichannel returns are worth designing as a process that connects sales, logistics, stock, finance and customer experience. Talk to our team about putting your multichannel processes in order and integrating the logistics layer with the systems your organization already runs.

FAQ — questions about omnichannel returns

The answers below cover the most common questions about organizing returns across sales channels.

How does an omnichannel return differ from an ordinary online return?

The key difference is not the number of available options but what happens under the hood. A simple online return usually closes inside a single system, whereas an omnichannel return requires the order, the status and the refund to be visible regardless of where the customer started and where they finished.

Can a product bought online always be returned in a physical store?

Whether an online purchase can be returned in a physical store depends on the seller’s policy and on how its systems are organized. The law does not oblige retailers to accept every online purchase at any location.

Which systems have to be integrated for omnichannel returns?

In most cases you need to connect data from the sales platform, POS, OMS, WMS, ERP, the payment system and the logistics platform, although the exact architecture depends on the size and structure of the organization.

Which KPIs matter most in returns logistics?

The most important returns logistics KPIs are cost per return, total cycle time, time-to-refund, time-to-restock, the value recovered from the product and the share of cases that require manual handling. They are worth monitoring together.

Should a single return policy apply across all channels?

A return policy should be consistent and easy for the customer to understand, but it can contain controlled differences driven by product category, market, sales channel or fulfillment method. What matters most is communicating those exceptions transparently, so the customer learns the rules before buying rather than at the moment of return.

Sources:

• Alsendo, report “Returns in Polish e-commerce 2026”
• D. Skurpel, S. Bakalarczyk, study of reverse logistics in omnichannel retail, University of Lodz Repository

Rafał Urbanek