WASHINGTON & DALLAS -- Product returns create friction for consumers, negatively impact profit margins for companies, and result in significant inefficiencies in inventory utilization throughout the supply chain. To combat these challenges, Blue Yonder, the world leader in end-to-end digital supply chain transformation, announced today it has acquired Optoro, Inc., a leading technology provider for returns, to enhance its Returns Management capabilities, delivering a more robust, comprehensive solution.

Returns processing both in the warehouse and in-store is a complex part of the returns lifecycle, especially since 9.5 billion pounds of returns end up in landfills. Blue Yonder identified Optoro’s robust returns processing capabilities, especially for major retailers and brands with a high volume of returns, as a way to further strengthen its capabilities in this space. With Optoro’s and Blue Yonder’s solutions coming together into a consolidated offering, retailers, brands and logistics service providers (LSPs) gain access to a comprehensive end-to-end Returns Management solution, which allows them to streamline services for greater efficiency, waste reduction, and visibility.

“With e-commerce sales continuing to grow, retailers need to be prepared when it comes to returns, which were projected to hit $890 billion last year, representing 16.9% of annual retail sales and is more than double the return rate from 2019,” said Tim Robinson, corporate vice president, Returns, Blue Yonder. “We are excited to acquire Optoro, to enrich the capabilities available to our customers, allowing them to enhance their ability to manage returns with increased efficiency and effectiveness to meet the needs of consumers. This strategic acquisition affirms Blue Yonder’s commitment to leading the industry, providing customers with unparalleled opportunities to refine their operations and driving transformative business success through a comprehensive returns solution.”

When combining Optoro’s capabilities with Blue Yonder’s existing returns management offering from a previous acquisition, Blue Yonder can now offer customers:

· Enterprise-Grade Returns Processing: Enhances Blue Yonder’s current offering with cloud-native, mature, feature-rich, processing and dispositioning capabilities to process returns in the warehouse and in-store. This completes the circularity of the journey of the returned item.
· Enables Dedicated Returns Facilities: Allows retailers, brands and LSPs to efficiently manage specialized returns facilities, enhancing operational flexibility and efficiency.
· In-Store Returns: The in-store app enables faster processing and automates inventory disposition to optimize recovery and maximize margin potential. By driving returns traffic in-store, retailers can capitalize on opportunities to resell products to enhance profitability and attract invaluable foot traffic with new-purchase potential.
· Recommerce Capabilities: With configurable workflows to recommerce vendors built in, the solution enables retailers and brands to efficiently identify resalable inventory and sell it to the next-best option, promoting inventory circularity. This prevents backlogs in warehouses and reduces goods ending up in landfills.
· Next-Level Returns Management: By extending Blue Yonder’s existing capabilities in returns initiation, decisioning and kiosks, Blue Yonder customers can complete the end-to-end journey needed to fully manage the returns process.

“Blue Yonder’s acquisition of Optoro extends its returns management solution as an even more comprehensive offering,” said Jordan K. Speer, research director, IDC Retail Insights. “With the addition of Optoro, Blue Yonder will be able to provide more expanded capabilities that address the complexities of the returns lifecycle. This strategic move not only opens new opportunities to enhance operational efficiency but also aligns with the growing demand for sustainable practices. Blue Yonder’s comprehensive approach addresses the downside of traditional returns processes, which often lead to poor profitability and lower customer satisfaction, by taking a transformative, dynamic approach to the entire end-to-end supply chain. The new combined offering has the potential to deliver great value to its users.”

Blue Yonder customers who use the solution will receive the following benefits:

· Enhanced Efficiency: With up to 18% of inventory often tied up in the returns process, optimizing returns management is crucial. Customers can accelerate receiving speeds by more than two times, enabling quicker inventory turnaround for resale and faster customer refunds.
· Improved Financial Performance: Customers can achieve significant cost savings by reducing the volume of returns and cutting reverse logistics expenses. Additionally, they can streamline warehouse operations to lower labor costs and minimize fraud.
· Loyalty-Winning Customer Experience: Customers can deliver both a simple, digital returns journey and an exceptional in-store returns experience, while offering fast refunds and exchanges to enhance customer satisfaction and foster brand loyalty.
· Increased Sustainability: Customers will be able to reduce shipping miles, stock wastage, and stock transfers, as well as removing returns labels from parcels, all while improving sustainability.

“Optoro was founded when e-commerce was in its early days, with the foresight to solve the returns problem. Over time, we built enterprise-grade returns solutions to meet the needs of the most iconic retail brands,” said Amena Ali, CEO, Optoro. “Now, thanks to Blue Yonder’s growing customer base, we will realize the full potential of our vision, helping thousands of companies worldwide address the returns challenge. By seamlessly integrating with Blue Yonder, it will be easier than ever for companies to optimize their returns to improve the shopper experience, inventory planning, and overall profitability.”

Blue Yonder continues to be the only company with a comprehensive portfolio of solutions, from planning and execution to fulfillment and returns, to build more sustainable and profitable, end-to-end supply chains. This deal is Blue Yonder’s sixth acquisition in less than two years and is indicative of Blue Yonder’s momentum in the supply chain management space. The acquisition allows the company to continue showcasing its strength in the retail and logistics industries. The acquisition agreement was closed by Blue Yonder and Optoro on Aug. 19, 2025.