Product Owner / Manager
Ecommerce Returns & Pickup Experience
A self-service returns and pickup solution for e-commerce customers in the logistics industry. The experience simplified complex return workflows, reduced customer support dependency, and improved usability across pickup and drop-off journeys.
Overview
As part of a Europe-wide initiative for FedEx, I worked on improving the returns and pickup experience for ecommerce customers by leading product discovery, aligning stakeholders, and shaping a scalable self-service solution.
The objective was to simplify how B2C and B2B customers schedule returns and pickups using pre-generated shipping labels (AWBs), while reducing operational overhead and customer service dependency across multiple European markets.
Some sections of this portfolio have been intentionally blurred or modified to honor NDAs and protect sensitive client information. For a more detailed walkthrough, please feel free to get in touch.
The Challenge
Customers returning online purchases often received a pre-created Air Waybill (AWB), but the process for arranging a collection or finding a drop-off option was fragmented and difficult to navigate.
The existing experience created several challenges:
-
Long and confusing workflows
-
Heavy reliance on customer support
-
Poor visibility into pickup and drop-off eligibility
-
Friction caused by account, login, or API-related requirements
-
Limited confidence in self-service capabilities
More than 185,000 customers reported issues with the existing process, particularly around usability, accessibility, and lack of control during returns.
From a business perspective, this also increased operational costs due to avoidable support interactions and inefficient routing between pickup and drop-off services.
My Role
As the Product Owner / Architect, I was responsible for bridging business goals, customer needs, UX, and delivery execution.
My responsibilities included:
-
Leading product discovery and stakeholder alignment
-
Defining product goals, scope, and requirements
-
Analyzing customer feedback and operational data
-
Mapping user journeys and identifying friction points
-
Prioritizing features and workflow improvements
-
Facilitating cross-functional workshops and ideation sessions
-
Collaborating with UX, engineering, operations, and business teams
-
Supporting usability validation and iterative delivery
-
Driving alignment between customer experience and operational feasibility
Discovery & Product Definition
The project started with a deep dive into existing research, support data, and customer feedback to understand where users struggled most.
I worked closely with stakeholders across business, customer operations, and delivery teams to define both customer and business success metrics.
To better understand the experience, I mapped the end-to-end return and pickup journeys across multiple personas and markets. This helped identify key friction points, emotional pain moments, and operational dependencies.
I also reviewed an early concept proposed by an external design agency and conducted a heuristic evaluation to assess usability, consistency, and workflow efficiency before development investment.
Key Pain Points Identified
-
Difficulty accessing return services quickly
-
Frustration with complex self-service flows
-
Confusion around pickup vs. drop-off eligibility
-
Dependency on customer service for simple tasks
-
Low confidence in API-connected workflows
-
Inconsistent experiences across countries and shipment types
Product Strategy & Solution
Based on discovery findings, I facilitated collaborative workshops and ideation sessions with cross-functional teams to redesign the experience around simplicity, validation, and operational scalability.
The resulting solution, Pickup & Drop-Off 2.0 introduced a streamlined self-service experience that allowed users to arrange returns or collections without requiring a FedEx account or login.
Core Product Improvements
-
Customers could initiate returns using only:
-
Tracking number
-
Destination postal code
-
-
Backend validation ensured:
-
The shipment was eligible
-
The AWB had not already been used
-
Account and shipment status checks were completed securely
-
-
Based on package characteristics and local operational rules, customers were dynamically guided toward:
-
Home pickup
-
Nearby drop-off locations
-
-
The experience was optimized for both:
-
B2C users returning online purchases
-
B2B users managing shipment collections
-
-
Country specific operational logic was incorporated to support scalable deployment across European markets
The focus throughout the product design process was reducing friction, improving completion rates, and minimizing unnecessary support interactions.
Outcome & Impact
The redesigned experience significantly improved how customers managed returns and pickups across 11 European countries.
Business & User Outcomes
-
Reduced dependency on customer service channels
-
Simplified self-service returns experience
-
Improved customer confidence and usability
-
98% immediate confirmation success rate for booking flows
-
Better routing between pickup and drop-off services
-
More efficient operational handling and lower servicing costs
The project received strong internal and customer feedback, and the next phase focused on deeper integration into the broader FedEx digital ecosystem to further improve conversion and completion rates.
Key Takeaway
This project reinforced the importance of combining product thinking, operational understanding, and user-centered design when solving complex service workflows at scale.
By aligning customer needs with business and operational realities, we transformed a fragmented returns process into a scalable, self-service experience that delivered measurable value for both users and the business.