On's own returns page is direct about one thing: "If you didn't buy your product directly from On you won't be able to return or exchange it on our website." No workaround offered — buy through a retailer, and On's own site simply can't help you.
That would be a minor footnote if most people bought direct. They don't, from what's actually visible. Search for On's shoes and the results are dominated by department stores, regional resellers and sports retailers, well ahead of on.com itself — consistent with a genuinely wholesale-heavy growth strategy, which has clearly worked for building distribution fast.
But it means the returns lockout isn't an edge case. It's the mainstream experience for a large share of real customers — and it's one of the only guaranteed moments those customers ever land on On's own site at all. Right now, that moment ends in a dead end: no signup prompt, no offer, nothing that turns a one-off reseller buyer into a direct relationship.
That finding, and three more like it, are laid out in a one-page breakdown below, built entirely from On's own published returns and shipping pages, and what's directly visible in general product search. Nothing here claims any insight into revenue, sell-through, or internal reporting.
Get the full one-page breakdown
All four findings, plus what I'd check first, in order — free, no further gate once downloaded.
Part of an ongoing series reviewing what's genuinely public about a brand's marketing — never internal data. If you'd like to see how your own business reads from the outside, get in touch.