I had the same experience. I ordered a $70 worth of cleaning supplies directly from the manufacturer, thinking I'd support the brand and cut out the middle man. My package was stolen (box opened and left right there) so we contacted the seller and told them the situation and they said they can't do anything about it, even with a police report. Amazon would have refunded it immediately. Half the time when I return something they even let me keep the item and donate it rather than dealing with the return.
I want to support smaller online retailers but not so bad that I'm okay with getting ripped off with no recourse every once in a while.
Where does the money to pay for your stolen cleaning supplies come from? Why would you even think to contact the manufacturer about this? Why not the shipping company? Or your building's management? I've fumbled a soda and broken it on the ground right after checking out and the grocer replaced it for free, but I recognized this as a generous act of kindness and not an expected baseline of customer service. I've also lost a soda in the parking lot and I can't even imagine feeling entitled enough to go back into the store to complain about it.
Typically, the recipient can't make a claim with a shipping company as they're not the customer, only the shipper (seller) can
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burwell_v._Hobby_Lobby_Stores,....
Also, their returns process is painless. I thought I’d support local workers and had been shopping at Hobby Lobby instead of using Amazon. For my trouble, when I tried to return an airbrush that didn’t suit my needs (I used it once) they treated me like a criminal, it was a whole production.
With Amazon I just head to the Whole Foods down the street (or Kohls sometimes?), return it, and get credited almost instantly.
I do think Walmart is putting a lot of effort into their online offerings and if you can return online purchases in store that’d be a huge win. We bought my wife’s MacBook Air off Walmart’s online store and it was super convenient.