Product Requirements Document (PRD): ReturnEase Pickup Scheduler

1. Executive Summary

ReturnEase is an enterprise-grade logistics orchestration platform designed to eliminate the friction of e-commerce returns. By providing a seamless, "no-label-required" home pickup experience, ReturnEase connects online shoppers with local carrier fleets through an intelligent scheduling engine. The platform optimizes carrier routes in real-time, provides customers with high-precision tracking, and offers merchants a centralized dashboard to monitor return volumes and carrier performance.

2. Problem Statement

The current return process is a major pain point in the e-commerce lifecycle. Customers are often forced to print labels (which many no longer have the hardware for) and travel to physical drop-off locations. This friction leads to lower customer satisfaction and delayed inventory turnover for merchants. Existing solutions lack high-precision pickup windows, leading to "missed pickups" and customer frustration.

3. Goals & Success Metrics

• Customer Convenience: Achieve a 95% "Successful First-Time Pickup" rate.
• Operational Efficiency: Reduce carrier fuel consumption by 15% through AI-powered route optimization.
• Merchant Retention: Increase post-purchase Net Promoter Score (NPS) for partner retailers by 20 points.
• Technical Performance: Maintain sub-200ms latency for real-time tracking updates via WebSockets.

4. User Personas

• The Stress-Free Shopper (Customer): Wants to book a 2-hour window, receive a QR code, and have the item picked up from their porch or hand without printing anything.
• The Agile Courier (Driver): Needs an optimized mobile route, clear "proof-of-pickup" protocols, and real-time navigation.
• The Logistics Lead (Merchant): Needs to see which regions have the highest return volumes and which carriers are meeting SLAs.
• The System Admin: Oversees multi-tenant configurations and API health between Shopify/BigCommerce and ReturnEase.

5. User Stories

• As a Customer, I want to select a specific 2-hour window for pickup so that I don't have to wait home all day.
• As a Customer, I want a digital QR code so that I can return my item without owning a printer.
• As a Driver, I want to see my optimized route in real-time so that I can complete my pickups efficiently.
• As a Driver, I want to take a photo of the item at the door as proof of pickup to protect myself from liability.
• As a Merchant, I want to see a heatmap of return reasons so that I can identify if a specific product line has quality issues.

6. Functional Requirements

6.1 Customer Portal

• Intelligent Scheduling: Dynamic time-slot generation based on real-time driver density (using PostGIS/Redis hybrid logic).
• Live Tracking View: Map-based visualization using Google Maps API with "Advanced Markers" and 3-second update intervals.
• Digital Labeling: Generation of GS1-compliant QR codes for "printerless" hand-offs.

6.2 Driver Mobile Interface (PWA/Native)

• Optimized Manifest: Real-time list of pickups sorted by AI-optimized route.
• Proof-of-Pickup (PoP): Mandatory photo capture and optional digital signature with "Ghost Image" overlays for condition verification.
• Proximity Alerts: Automated SMS triggers via Twilio when the driver is within 5 miles (using geographic geofencing).

6.3 Merchant Dashboard

• Multi-Tenant Analytics: Isolated views for different retail brands using Next.js 16 parallel routes.
• Carrier Scorecards: Comparison of On-Time Performance (OTP) and transit times across different carrier partners.
• Integration Hub: Webhook management for Shopify and BigCommerce status synchronization.

7. Technical Requirements

7.1 Core Tech Stack (Version Specific - 2026 Standards)

• Frontend: Next.js v16.1.3 (using Turbopack, React 19 Compiler, and use cache directive).
• Styling: Tailwind CSS v4.1.18 (CSS-first configuration, Lightning CSS engine).
• Backend: NestJS v11.1.12 (Express v5, IntrinsicException handling).
• Database: PostgreSQL 18 with PostGIS v3.6.1 for spatial-temporal queries.
• Real-time: WebSockets (Socket.io) using Protobuf serialization for low-bandwidth location streams.
• Infrastructure: AWS (RDS for Postgres, Elastic Beanstalk for NestJS).

7.2 Integrations

• E-commerce: Shopify Admin GraphQL API & BigCommerce v3 Webhooks.
• Logistics: EasyPost Node.js SDK for secondary leg label generation.
• Communications: Twilio API for automated SMS and Push notifications.
• Auth: Auth0 with MFA and Role-Based Access Control (RBAC).

8. Data Model

8.1 PickupRequest

| Field | Type | Description | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | id | UUID | Primary Key | | tenantId | UUID | Link to Merchant/Retailer | | status | Enum | PENDING, EN_ROUTE, PICKED_UP, CANCELLED | | window_start | Timestamp | Scheduled start of 2-hour window | | location | Geography(Point) | PostGIS point for customer address | | qr_code_url | String | Signed URL to the digital label |

8.2 CarrierAssignment

| Field | Type | Description | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | driver_id | UUID | Reference to User (Role: Driver) | | current_lat_lng | Geography(Point) | Updated every 3-5 seconds | | route_index | Integer | Position in the optimized daily manifest |

9. API Specification

9.1 POST /api/v1/pickups/schedule

Description: Reserves a pickup slot.

• Request: { orderId: string, zipCode: string, windowId: string }
• Response: 201 Created { pickupId: string, trackingUrl: string, qrCode: string }

9.2 GET /api/v1/tracking/:id

Description: Returns real-time coordinates and ETA.

• Security: Requires Time-Bound Signed URL.
• Response: { lat: float, lng: float, eta_minutes: int, status: string }

10. UI/UX Requirements

• Driver App: High-contrast "Sunlight Mode" UI; minimum 48x48dp touch targets; offline-first synchronization using Workbox.
• Customer Tracking: Map smoothing using RequestAnimationFrame for fluid marker movement (Tweening).
• Merchant Dashboard: Use Tremor.so for KPIs and shadcn/ui for data tables.

11. Non-Functional Requirements

• Security: PII masking for customer addresses until the driver is within 0.5 miles of the destination.
• Reliability: 99.99% uptime for the scheduling engine; circuit breakers on carrier API integrations.
• Scalability: Ability to handle 10,000+ concurrent WebSocket connections via Redis Pub/Sub.

12. Out of Scope

• Managing physical warehouse inventory (WMS).
• Handling international customs documentation for cross-border returns (Phase 1).
• In-app payment processing for returns (All returns assumed prepaid by merchant for MVP).

13. Risks & Mitigations

• GPS Jitter: Mitigated by using "Snap-to-Roads" Google Roads API and dead-reckoning algorithms.
• Carrier API Downtime: Mitigated by implementing a fallback "Delayed Sync" queue for Shopify/BigCommerce webhooks.
• Double Booking: Mitigated by using Postgres Advisory Locks on specific time-slot transactions.

14. Implementation Tasks

Phase 1: Foundation & Project Setup

• [ ] Initialize Next.js v16.1.3 project with Turbopack and Tailwind v4.1.18.
• [ ] Set up NestJS v11.1.12 backend with TypeScript strict mode.
• [ ] Provision PostgreSQL 18 RDS instance and enable PostGIS 3.6.1 extension.
• [ ] Configure Auth0 RBAC for Customer, Driver, and Admin roles.

Phase 2: Logistics Logic & Scheduling

• [ ] Implement PostGIS ST_DWithin queries for driver density calculation.
• [ ] Build the "Slot Steering" logic to dynamically show/hide 2-hour windows.
• [ ] Integrate node-qrcode with GS1 Digital Link standard for digital label generation.
• [ ] Create Shopify Webhook listener for returns/request events.

Phase 3: Driver Experience & Real-time Tracking

• [ ] Develop Driver PWA with offline-first data persistence.
• [ ] Implement WebSocket gateway in NestJS using Protobuf for location updates.
• [ ] Build the Customer Tracking page with WebGL-based marker smoothing.
• [ ] Integrate AWS S3 with CloudFront Signed URLs for secure photo-proof access.

Phase 4: Analytics & Optimization

• [ ] Build Multi-tenant Dashboard using Next.js Parallel Routes (@analytics).
• [ ] Implement AI-powered route optimization using node-or-tools in a Worker Thread.
• [ ] Add "Green Logistics" CO2 offset calculator to the merchant summary view.
• [ ] Conduct load testing for 10k concurrent tracking sessions.