With the arrival of autumn, we tend to think more and more about buying presents and Christmas goods. Ecommerce stores and distributors are anticipating above-standard profit boosted by the global pandemic driving customers from bricks and mortar towards the online environment. There\u2019s a catch though. A growing trend of online returns is also growing.<\/p>\n
According to recent research, more than 70 % of consumers rely on buying at least half of goods online. Convenient shopping and conditions for replacing or returning any products will enable sending a part or the whole package back to the supplier easily. Costs related to returning goods are higher and higher, which means a problem for distributors all around the world. In the USA, Statista estimated it to be 350 million dollars for 2017 and we can expect stable growth onwards. For example, retail sale of electronic goods has grown by 300 % during the last 10 years.<\/p>\n
Distributors can minimize the occurrence of returns while preparing the goods to be sent. However, most companies offer free return transportation (because if the customer is not satisfied with the purchase, making them pay for the return would be the best way to lose them). It\u2019s no secret that quick, direct and free transportation is some kind of \u201cAmazon effect\u201d.<\/p>\n
Therefore, distributors are faced with difficult questions like: \u201cWhat is the reason for returning\u201d, \u201cCan we still sell it or do we have to send it back to the supplier\u201d, \u201cIs the item bought in our store\u201d etc. The costs that they have with every single item are growing rapidly.<\/p>\n
In order to prevent these situations from happening, specialists recommend implementing a valid admission process of returned goods. Thanks to that, hours and hours of monitoring packages and putting them back to the store are eliminated. When workers don\u2019t have a clue about the status and location of the returned goods, they\u2019re losing valuable time and energy that could be spent executing other orders.<\/p>\n
Secondly, you should not forget about reverse logistics. Even small steps can lead to streamlining the return process at the warehouse level. One of them is the warehouse management system (WMS), which can secure complete and stable package visibility and minimizes the possibility that it will get \u201clost\u201d. WMS enables quicker and easier identification and return tracking and gives distributors control over the warehouse in the entire process of reverse logistics.<\/p>\n
Easy-to-use software reduces the number of mistakes employees made and increases the effectivity of their work. It\u2019s possible to use it to automate customer orders and at the same time, to dispatch returning goods. Some systems can even deal with situations when the item is damaged during transportation to the customer or back to the distributor.<\/p>\n
Whether we like it or not, customers are waiting for a perfect service and flawless goods. If the package takes too long to be delivered, they\u2019ll probably choose another distributor next time.<\/p>\n
Christmas is coming, so it\u2019s about time to check the processes of reverse logistics. The recent report of CBRE showed that the supplier chain of reverse logistics requires about 15\u201320 percent more of warehouse space than regular distribution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With the arrival of autumn, we tend to think more and more about buying presents and Christmas goods. Ecommerce stores and distributors are anticipating above-standard profit boosted by the global pandemic driving customers from bricks and mortar towards the online environment. There\u2019s a catch though. A growing trend of online returns is also growing. To […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2869,"featured_media":4423,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogen"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n