PayPal Expands Post-purchase Offerings With Happy Returns Acquisition

Despite many parts of the online shopping experience becoming increasingly easy, the returns process can be wasteful, expensive and arduous — for both the consumer and the retailer.
Launched six years ago to tackle online returns head-on, Happy Returns has made it its mission to make the process “beautiful for shoppers, retailers and the planet,” using technology to offer in-person return drop-offs as a solution and boasting a model that reduces the amount of greenhouse gas emissions by 0.12 pounds per item returned. Today, the company’s network includes hundreds of brand partners using its returns software and more than 2,600 locations in 1,200-plus unique metro areas in every state in the continental U.S.
Now, by joining PayPal, Happy Returns will bring its technology and platform to even more consumers and retailers, expanding upon the company’s post-purchase experience. With PayPal’s support, David Sobie, chief executive officer of Happy Returns, said there will be “additional focus on improving [the Happy Returns] platform and expanding its footprint, all with the goal of providing more customers with the most seamless, cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to make and process returns.”
Here, Sobie talks to WWD about the pandemic’s impact on the returns process, alleviating the environmental effects

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