Order tracking and returns software shows a shopper where her parcel is, on a page that carries the brand's name, and runs the return when she sends something back. The industry calls it post-purchase software, because it covers everything that happens after the shopper pays.
Without it, the shopper gets only a courier's tracking number, and must look it up on the courier's website. Many brands use several couriers, and each courier writes its updates differently. The tracking software collects these updates from the brand's shipping software. It writes them in the same plain words on one page, in the brand's colours and on the brand's website: "Packed", "Shipped", "Out for delivery", "Delivered". It also sends the same updates by WhatsApp, SMS or email.
This saves the brand work. "Where is my order?" is the commonest question that an online shop's support team receives. When the shopper can see the answer herself, fewer people write in. Those who still do reach an e-commerce help desk, which reads the same tracking data and replies.
Take, for example, a footwear brand in Agra, and a shopper in Guwahati who orders a pair of ₹2,799 loafers. She follows the parcel on the brand's tracking page for four days. The loafers arrive, but they are a size too small. She opens the returns page from the same tracking link, picks the order and chooses the reason "Too small". She selects "Exchange for size 8" instead of a refund. The software checks the brand's rules: returns are allowed within 7 days, and this style is in stock in size 8. It books a reverse pickup, which is a courier collection from her home. In India, the pickup rider usually brings the return label, so she does not need a printer. The rider checks that the shoes are unworn before taking them, and the brand sends the size-8 pair the same day.
Brands prefer an exchange or store credit to a refund, because they keep the sale. So the returns page shows those options first. When a shopper chooses a refund, it is usually paid to her bank account or UPI ID after the returned item passes its check. For a cash-on-delivery order, the software asks her for those bank or UPI details, because there is no card or account to refund to.
What happens to the returned shoes? They go back to the brand's warehouse, or to a reverse logistics company, which checks their condition and sells them again. The tracking page and the pickup both depend on the courier companies behind them, which are covered in last-mile delivery.