{"id":74817,"date":"2026-02-24T14:45:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/?post_type=stories&#038;p=74817"},"modified":"2026-03-26T12:47:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T17:47:34","slug":"guardian-sports","status":"publish","type":"stories","link":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/en-au\/stories\/guardian-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"How Guardian Sports Used Automated Returns to Scale After Going Viral with the NFL"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-safety-innovation-born-on-the-sidelines\">A safety innovation born on the sidelines<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-wistia-inc wp-block-embed-wistia-inc\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" title=\"Guardian Sports | ShipStation Stories Video\" src=\"https:\/\/fast.wistia.net\/embed\/iframe\/mpkhltby42?dnt=1#?secret=cooHH1v9su\" data-secret=\"cooHH1v9su\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When Jake Hanson&#8217;s parents sat in the stands during his middle school football games, they heard something that haunted them: the crack of two helmets colliding on the field. With decades of experience in material science, they couldn&#8217;t help but wonder\u2014why wasn&#8217;t anyone doing something about this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That question led to <a href=\"https:\/\/guardiansports.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Guardian Sports<\/a>, founded in 2010 with a mission to make athletes safer without taking them out of the game. Their flagship product, the <a href=\"https:\/\/guardiansports.com\/guardian-caps\/\">Guardian Cap<\/a>, is a soft-shell helmet cover that reduces impact forces. Simple concept. Game-changing results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The NFL saw through their research <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcsports.com\/nfl\/profootballtalk\/rumor-mill\/news\/nfl-says-positions-wearing-guardian-caps-saw-52-decrease-in-concussions\">a 52% reduction in athlete concussions<\/a> for those wearing the Guardian Cap during that first season,&#8221; said Jake Hanson, now the company&#8217;s Chief Operating Officer. &#8220;After that, the product just kind of exploded.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-when-the-nfl-calls-you-say-yes\">When the NFL calls, you say yes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Guardian Sports spent years building grassroots adoption, starting with college programs like South Carolina and Clemson. Then came 2017, when they won the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/playerhealthandsafety\/equipment-and-innovation\/headhealthtech\/headhealthtech-challenges\">NFL Head Health Tech Challenge<\/a>. Five years later, Hanson&#8217;s parents got a call on the way back from church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The NFL said, &#8216;Hey, in three weeks, we need you to supply Guardian Caps to every single team. Can you do it?'&#8221; Hanson recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>&#8220;One of our core values here is &#8216;lead with yes.&#8217; So they led with yes.&#8221;<\/p><cite>Jake Hanson, COO<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>That decision transformed the company. Today, Guardian Caps are worn by NFL players, 85% of Power Four college teams, and hundreds of thousands of high school and youth athletes. The company has expanded into lacrosse balls manufactured in the USA, multi-sport headbands, turf infill that keeps fields 30 degrees cooler, and a new chin strap that reduces impact by up to 35%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But with explosive growth came explosive operational challenges\u2014particularly as consumer orders flooded in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/02\/guardian-sports-jake-hanson-shipstation-2-1024x576.jpg.webp\" alt=\"jake hanson guardian sports shipstation\" class=\"wp-image-74877\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/02\/guardian-sports-jake-hanson-shipstation-2-1024x576.jpg.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/02\/guardian-sports-jake-hanson-shipstation-2-768x432.jpg.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/02\/guardian-sports-jake-hanson-shipstation-2-1536x864.jpg.webp 1536w, https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/02\/guardian-sports-jake-hanson-shipstation-2-2048x1152.jpg.webp 2048w, https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/02\/guardian-sports-jake-hanson-shipstation-2-scaled.jpg.webp 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-three-hundred-orders-a-day-and-counting\">Three hundred orders a day and counting<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The NFL exposure didn&#8217;t just validate the product. It drove a surge in direct-to-consumer sales that the small Atlanta-based team wasn&#8217;t prepared for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;There has been an uptick in direct-to-consumer because of our exposure with the NFL,&#8221; said Anna Branon, Senior Operations Manager. &#8220;We\u2019re getting a lot more online purchases than we ever had before.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During peak season\u2014April through mid-September\u2014the numbers are staggering: 300 to 400 orders per day.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;July and August are absolutely chaotic here,&#8221; Branon said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The problem? Guardian Sports was still doing everything manually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We were just going into FedEx.com and generating all of our labels that way,&#8221; Branon explained. &#8220;I was manually putting in every single order, printing everything out, going into FedEx.com, generating a label, walking it out. There was just a lot of room for error\u2014too much manual work.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The pace wasn&#8217;t sustainable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>&#8220;We were basically doing the work of two to three people each and starting to burn out. We needed help.&#8221;<\/p><cite>Anna Branon, Senior Operations Manager<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-a-new-product-line-made-things-worse\">A new product line made things worse<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The Guardian Cap is one-size-fits-all, which meant returns were rare. But as the company expanded its product line to include items with sizes and colors, everything changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;With our flagship product, you&#8217;re not really getting a lot of returns or exchanges,&#8221; Branon said. &#8220;But as we added more products to our wheelhouse, we were like, &#8216;Wait, we need something to help us with this.'&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The manual returns process was crushing them. Every return required endless back-and-forth with customers, manual data entry, and careful tracking to ensure inventory made it back into the right locations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;A single return probably would take about 15 minutes\u2014just taking it in, checking it to make sure it qualifies for return, counting it, and then putting it back in the system,&#8221; said Maddy Duncan, Procurement Analyst. &#8220;And you can&#8217;t just completely have your sole focus on returns.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For a team managing 300+ daily orders, 15-minute returns were unsustainable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/02\/guardian-interview-shot-branon-1024x576.jpg.webp\" alt=\"guardian sports interview shipstation\" class=\"wp-image-74882\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/02\/guardian-interview-shot-branon-1024x576.jpg.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/02\/guardian-interview-shot-branon-768x432.jpg.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/02\/guardian-interview-shot-branon-1536x864.jpg.webp 1536w, https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/02\/guardian-interview-shot-branon-2048x1152.jpg.webp 2048w, https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/02\/guardian-interview-shot-branon-scaled.jpg.webp 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-finding-a-solution-that-plays-nice-with-shopify\">Finding a solution that plays nice with Shopify<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Hanson&#8217;s approach to solving operational challenges is simple: remove barriers for his people with the best available technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The company had already moved to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shopify.com\/landing\/plus-ppc?utm_medium=cpc&amp;utm_source=google&amp;utm_content=154023387982&amp;utm_term=684569754121&amp;utm_campaign=20863439030&amp;_bt=684569754121&amp;_bk=shopify%20plus&amp;_bm=e&amp;_bn=g&amp;_bg=154023387982&amp;gclsrc=aw.ds&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=20863439030&amp;gbraid=0AAAAADuh4USDYgddxWyxkYJxUnAYKscNS&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQiAp-zLBhDkARIsABcYc6tl3rCO4ckHnLKthRTA0EKHPxHDYfap7NHW6nvpouzKewplsjKrN0IaAj23EALw_wcB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Shopify Plus<\/a> for ecommerce\u2014about 80% of orders flow through the platform. But fulfillment was still archaic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We would take a package, log in, input the address, copy and rewrite everything,&#8221; Hanson said. &#8220;When you have 300 to 400 orders at once, you cannot physically do that one by one.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Guardian Sports evaluated their options. They needed automation. They needed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/partners\/shopify\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">seamless Shopify integration<\/a>. And they needed an automated returns solution that would take the customer service burden off their small team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We looked at some competitors, but no one has the relationship with us that ShipStation does,&#8221; Branon said. &#8220;We already have a great relationship with our account manager, so it just kind of felt like a no-brainer.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/blog\/shipstation-shopify-integration-success-stories\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Shopify-ShipStation integration<\/a> was critical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>&#8220;Shopify is like our lifeline. So it&#8217;s really important that ShipStation and Shopify talk to each other, and they talk to each other well.&#8221;<\/p><cite>Anna Branon, Senior Operations Manager<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Getting the two platforms connected was painless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The integration between Shopify and ShipStation was super easy and flawless\u2014one of probably the easiest things we&#8217;ve connected,&#8221; Branon added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-automated-returns-that-run-themselves\">Automated returns that run themselves<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"\/fulfillment\/returns\/\">ShipStation Returns and Exchanges<\/a> transformed how Guardian Sports handles exchanges and refunds. The automated returns portal gives customers a familiar, self-service experience while eliminating the back-and-forth that was consuming the operations team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>&#8220;ShipStation&#8217;s return process has really taken the guesswork out for us as a company. And it&#8217;s given the power back to our customers.&#8221;<\/p><cite>Anna Branon, Senior Operations Manager<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The results in the warehouse were immediate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;After implementing ShipStation Returns, my life got a lot easier because it took away a lot of the double-checking,&#8221; Duncan said. &#8220;I would have to manually receive this inventory back into these locations, and it&#8217;s always good to double-check. But now that I have a system that&#8217;s streamlined it more, there are a lot fewer quality discrepancies.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Processing time dropped dramatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>&#8220;The time probably got cut down in half just because it streamlined the process.&#8221;<\/p><cite>Maddy Duncan, Procurement Analyst<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>For Branon, the relief was personal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I felt like I could start focusing more on the bigger picture and kind of get out of the weeds a little bit,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Just having at least one thing off my plate is huge.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-converting-refunds-into-retained-revenue\">Converting refunds into retained revenue<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Beyond efficiency, Guardian Sports has been able to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/blog\/ecommerce-returns-management-transform-reverse-logistics-from-cost-center-to-customer-loyalty-driver\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">use returns as a retention tool<\/a> rather than a revenue loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We have been able to convert refunds into exchanges,&#8221; Branon said. &#8220;And trying to keep that money back into the business has been really important. ShipStation has really enabled us to keep the money in Guardian.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The impact on customer retention has been measurable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>&#8220;Our customer retention was at about 30% prior to ShipStation. Now we&#8217;re at 45%. We&#8217;re getting a lot more of the same customers coming back.&#8221;<\/p><cite>Jake Hanson, COO<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>That 50% improvement in retention is a metric that compounds over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/02\/guardian-sports-building-shipstation-1024x576.jpg.webp\" alt=\"guardian sports building shipstation automated returns\" class=\"wp-image-74880\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/02\/guardian-sports-building-shipstation-1024x576.jpg.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/02\/guardian-sports-building-shipstation-768x432.jpg.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/02\/guardian-sports-building-shipstation-1536x864.jpg.webp 1536w, https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/02\/guardian-sports-building-shipstation-2048x1152.jpg.webp 2048w, https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/wp-content\/smush-webp\/2026\/02\/guardian-sports-building-shipstation-scaled.jpg.webp 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-peak-season-without-the-panic\">Peak season without the panic<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>During Guardian Sports&#8217; busiest months, ShipStation has proven essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We can do same-day shipping now,&#8221; Duncan said. &#8220;Without ShipStation, since it was so manual, it really took a lot longer. I would say it really helped during peak season with the order volume we had.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The warehouse team describes peak season as exciting rather than chaotic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We know that if there are a lot more orders going out, the volume&#8217;s higher, the more players that we get to help with their safety,&#8221; Duncan said. &#8220;So it&#8217;s really exciting during peak season.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-it-just-works\">It just works<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When asked to describe ShipStation&#8217;s impact in three words, Hanson didn&#8217;t hesitate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>&#8220;It just works.&#8221;<\/p><cite>Jake Hanson, COO<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Guardian Sports continues to expand its product line and reach more athletes. With ShipStation and Shopify working together behind the scenes, the team can focus on what matters: helping players stay in the game they love, safely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Our entire mission and our goal is: how do these athletes play the sports that they love without the repercussions?&#8221; Hanson said. &#8220;We&#8217;ve got a lot more athletes that we can help.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-quick-stats\">Quick stats<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>52%<\/strong> reduction in NFL athlete concussions during first Guardian Cap season<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>300-400<\/strong> orders processed daily during peak season<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>45%<\/strong> customer retention rate (up from 30%\u2014a 50% improvement)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>50%<\/strong> reduction in return processing time<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>80%<\/strong> of orders flow through Shopify Plus integration<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Same-day shipping<\/strong> capability achieved during peak periods<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ready to take the guesswork out of returns?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Guardian Sports transformed returns from a 15-minute headache into a streamlined, self-service experience\u2014and boosted customer retention by 50% in the process. Whether you&#8217;re processing 50 orders a day or 500, ShipStation&#8217;s automated returns portal can help you turn refunds into revenue retention and keep customers coming back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/start-a-free-trial\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Start your free trial.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;ShipStation&#8217;s return process has really taken the guesswork out for us as a company. And it&#8217;s given the power back to our customers.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":74874,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"story-cats":[],"class_list":["post-74817","stories","type-stories","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.5 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How Guardian Sports Used Automated Returns to Scale<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"See how Guardian Sports used automated returns to boost retention 50% and cut processing time in half after explosive NFL-driven growth.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/stories\/guardian-sports\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Guardian Sports Used Automated Returns to Scale After Going Viral with the NFL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"See how Guardian Sports used automated returns to boost retention 50% and cut processing time in half after explosive NFL-driven growth.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/stories\/guardian-sports\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ShipStation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ShipStation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-26T17:47:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/guardian-sports-helmet-shipstation-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@shipstation\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shipstation.com\\\/stories\\\/guardian-sports\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shipstation.com\\\/stories\\\/guardian-sports\\\/\",\"name\":\"How Guardian Sports Used Automated Returns to Scale\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shipstation.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shipstation.com\\\/stories\\\/guardian-sports\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shipstation.com\\\/stories\\\/guardian-sports\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shipstation.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/guardian-sports-helmet-shipstation-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-24T20:45:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-26T17:47:34+00:00\",\"description\":\"See how Guardian Sports used automated returns to boost retention 50% and cut processing time in half after explosive NFL-driven growth.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shipstation.com\\\/stories\\\/guardian-sports\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shipstation.com\\\/stories\\\/guardian-sports\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shipstation.com\\\/stories\\\/guardian-sports\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shipstation.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/guardian-sports-helmet-shipstation-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shipstation.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/02\\\/guardian-sports-helmet-shipstation-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"guardian sports helmet thumbnail shipstation\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shipstation.com\\\/stories\\\/guardian-sports\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shipstation.com\\\/en-au\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How Guardian Sports Used Automated Returns to Scale After Going Viral with the NFL\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shipstation.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shipstation.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"ShipStation\",\"description\":\"Powerful shipping, simplified. eBay, Amazon, Magento eCommerce shipping\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shipstation.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shipstation.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shipstation.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"ShipStation\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shipstation.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shipstation.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shipstation.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/ShipStation-Lockup-DarkGreen-RGB.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shipstation.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/ShipStation-Lockup-DarkGreen-RGB.svg\",\"width\":1550,\"height\":247,\"caption\":\"ShipStation\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shipstation.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/ShipStation\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/shipstation\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/shipstation\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/shipstation\\\/\"],\"description\":\"The fulfillment engine behind hundreds of thousands of online sellers, ShipStation combines order management, rate shopping, inventory, and returns all in one platform, delivering 15x more labels per hour and up to 90% shipping discounts through 200+ carriers.\",\"telephone\":\"(512) 886-4006\",\"numberOfEmployees\":{\"@type\":\"QuantitativeValue\",\"minValue\":\"1001\",\"maxValue\":\"5000\"}},{\"@type\":\"SoftwareApplication\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shipstation.com\\\/en-au\\\/#software-application\",\"name\":\"ShipStation\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.shipstation.com\\\/en-au\\\/\",\"applicationCategory\":\"BusinessApplication\",\"operatingSystem\":\"Web Browser\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How Guardian Sports Used Automated Returns to Scale","description":"See how Guardian Sports used automated returns to boost retention 50% and cut processing time in half after explosive NFL-driven growth.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/stories\/guardian-sports\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How Guardian Sports Used Automated Returns to Scale After Going Viral with the NFL","og_description":"See how Guardian Sports used automated returns to boost retention 50% and cut processing time in half after explosive NFL-driven growth.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/stories\/guardian-sports\/","og_site_name":"ShipStation","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ShipStation\/","article_modified_time":"2026-03-26T17:47:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/guardian-sports-helmet-shipstation-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@shipstation","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/stories\/guardian-sports\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/stories\/guardian-sports\/","name":"How Guardian Sports Used Automated Returns to Scale","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/stories\/guardian-sports\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/stories\/guardian-sports\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/guardian-sports-helmet-shipstation-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-24T20:45:32+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-26T17:47:34+00:00","description":"See how Guardian Sports used automated returns to boost retention 50% and cut processing time in half after explosive NFL-driven growth.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/stories\/guardian-sports\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/stories\/guardian-sports\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/stories\/guardian-sports\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/guardian-sports-helmet-shipstation-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/guardian-sports-helmet-shipstation-scaled.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"guardian sports helmet thumbnail shipstation"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/stories\/guardian-sports\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/en-au\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How Guardian Sports Used Automated Returns to Scale After Going Viral with the NFL"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/","name":"ShipStation","description":"Powerful shipping, simplified. eBay, Amazon, Magento eCommerce shipping","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/#organization","name":"ShipStation","url":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/ShipStation-Lockup-DarkGreen-RGB.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/ShipStation-Lockup-DarkGreen-RGB.svg","width":1550,"height":247,"caption":"ShipStation"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ShipStation\/","https:\/\/x.com\/shipstation","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/shipstation","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/shipstation\/"],"description":"The fulfillment engine behind hundreds of thousands of online sellers, ShipStation combines order management, rate shopping, inventory, and returns all in one platform, delivering 15x more labels per hour and up to 90% shipping discounts through 200+ carriers.","telephone":"(512) 886-4006","numberOfEmployees":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","minValue":"1001","maxValue":"5000"}},{"@type":"SoftwareApplication","@id":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/en-au\/#software-application","name":"ShipStation","url":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/en-au\/","applicationCategory":"BusinessApplication","operatingSystem":"Web Browser"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories\/74817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stories"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/stories"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"story-cats","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shipstation.com\/en-au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story-cats?post=74817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}