Route, a post-purchase platform for e-commerce brands, has announced the acquisition of Frate Returns, a returns and exchanges platform, to integrate advanced returns technology with its existing package protection and tracking services.
The acquisition aims to provide Route’s customers with a comprehensive solution that combines Route’s package protection and tracking suite with Frate’s intelligent exchange-first returns technology. This integration is designed to offer a single, vertically integrated platform for merchants to manage the entire customer journey after checkout.
Eric Kobe, CEO of Route, stated, “Acquiring Frate Returns builds on Route’s position at the center of the post-purchase experience to create shopper confidence that fuels merchant growth. By integrating their technology with Route’s industry-leading package protection and visual order tracking, we are not just expanding our capabilities, we are redefining the standard for how merchants engage with and retain shoppers long after the sale.”
Frate’s capabilities include exchange-first optimization, AI image verification, and flexible shipping, refund, and payment options. These features are utilized by brands such as Caraway Home, Honeylove, and Monos to reduce refund rates and operational costs, while retaining revenue and increasing customer loyalty.
Bailey Newton, Co-Founder and CEO of Frate Returns, commented on the market demand: “Merchants today are looking to consolidate their tech stacks to reduce costs without sacrificing the customer experience. There is a critical market need to optimize the entire post-purchase journey, not just fragmented parts of it, and joining forces with Route allows us to amplify our impact by solving those challenges in one unified platform.”
Route, founded in 2019 by Evan Walker and Mike Moreno, has developed its post-purchase experience offerings and established the shipping protection category. The company currently serves over 13,000 brands and has protected more than $20 billion in gross merchandise value to date. Evan Walker, Founder and Executive Chairman of Route, noted, “Bringing Frate’s technology into our family is a powerful catalyst forward in that evolution. As we continue to innovate for our customers and see our enterprise adoption accelerate faster than ever, I couldn’t be more excited for Route to reach new heights with this strategic addition.”
The combined platform is designed to offer merchants tools for package protection, tracking, cash back, issue resolution, and now returns and exchanges, all within a unified system.
