Acquisition of the leading returns platform enables Route to deliver a unified solution for tracking, protection, and returns—saving merchants millions in lost profit.
Route, the post-purchase platform trusted by the world’s leading ecommerce brands, announced the acquisition of Frate Returns, a returns and exchanges platform designed for modern ecommerce brands. This strategic acquisition gives Route’s customers a comprehensive solution that combines Route’s market-leading package protection and tracking suite with Frate’s intelligent exchange-first returns technology.
“Acquiring Frate Returns builds on Route’s position at the center of the post-purchase experience to create shopper confidence that fuels merchant growth,” said Eric Kobe, CEO of Route. “The Frate team has built an exceptional product that turns a traditionally complex process into a seamless experience for shoppers and a growth engine for brands. 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.”
By integrating Frate’s AI-driven returns and exchanges software, Route now offers merchants a single, vertically integrated platform to manage the entire customer journey after checkout. Frate’s capabilities, including exchange-first optimization, AI image verification, and flexible shipping, refund, and payment options, allows brands like Caraway Home, Honeylove, and Monos to drastically reduce refund rates and operational costs while retaining revenue and increasing loyalty.
“Merchants are looking to consolidate their tech stacks to reduce costs without sacrificing the customer experience,” said Bailey Newton, Co-Founder and CEO of Frate Returns. “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. I’m incredibly excited to combine our returns and exchanges capabilities with Route to drive massive value for merchants and shoppers.”
Founded by Evan Walker and Mike Moreno in 2019, Route quickly became one of the fastest-growing technology companies in the world by innovating on the post-purchase experience and creating the shipping protection category.
Founder and Executive Chairman Evan Walker expressed enthusiasm about the acquisition and momentum of the company: “We founded Route to reimagine what’s possible in ecommerce. 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.”