Reverse logistics provider Route has acquired Frate Returns, a returns and exchanges platform, saying the merger combines Route’s package protection and tracking suite with Frate’s intelligent exchange-first returns technology.

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, the firm said. Frate’s capabilities, including exchange-first optimization, AI image verification, and flexible shipping, refund, and payment options, allows e-commerce brands to reduce refund rates and operational costs while retaining revenue and increasing loyalty.

"Merchants today are looking to consolidate their tech stacks to reduce costs without sacrificing the customer experience," Bailey Newton, Co-Founder and CEO of Frate Returns, said in a release. "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.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.