Articles
Reverse Logistics
Embracing the Opportunity in Returns
With the explosive growth of online shopping in recent years, largely fueled by the pandemic, returns are on the rise and have become a logistics headache for retailers, carriers, and consumers. The long-term impacts of this increased demand, and the resulting strain on retailers and supply chains, will largely depend on how retailers respond.
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Using AI for Critical Returns Management
In 2021, U.S. returns rose to $761 billion annually, up 10.6% from the year before. And with that, retailers must consider AI-based automated returns solutions to manage the influx. Artificial intelligence (AI) can tackle every aspect of returns processing, from shipping to disposition decisions to recommerce. It can also handle parts of the customer journey […]
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4 Tips to Master Reverse Logistics
Up to 40% of online purchases made in the past year were returned, finds recent research. Whether you’re diving into e-commerce for the first time or finding your footing after the accelerated industry growth amid the pandemic, mastering reverse logistics is an essential function of your operation, now more than ever.
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Achieving a Sustainable Returns Program
A good returns management program is a sustainability effort in itself. The right approach can improve value recovery, increase efficiency, and lower transport and labor costs, all while reducing your carbon footprint, food and landfill waste, and fossil fuel consumption.
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How Returns Impact the Warehouse and What You Can Do About It
Returns have always been a challenge, but distributors today are experiencing a surge in returned items and orders. The cost of return deliveries in the United States will increase to $550 billion in 2020, according to Statista. That’s up from $314 billion just four years ago.
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Get RIP-Roaring Results with IoT
Companies are increasingly investing in returnable industrial packaging (RIP) to ship products to customers as sustainably as possible.
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Mitigating the Flood of Post-Holiday Returns
Businesses across the country spend months gearing up for the holiday season. And while they survived this year’s frenzy, many are now bracing for a flood of post-holiday returns.
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Retail Combats a $351-Billion Problem
The next time you think about returning an item to Amazon, be forewarned: Return too many items in one year, and you might just be exiled for good. Amazon’s controversial decision to ban return-happy customers in an effort to reduce returns costs shows the lengths retailers are willing to go. Last year, total merchandise returns […]
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Minimize Returns While Improving Sales
The popularity of free shipping has led to a growth of online sales. It has also created a problem: a large number of online returns. The shipping world defines the returns process as reverse logistics. Minimizing costs and even making a profit in reverse logistics is critical to an e-commerce company’s health. Here are some […]
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Recall Logistics: The Value of Information
Massive recalls—such as the contaminated romaine lettuce in summer 2018 that led to the deaths of five people—provide some lessons helpful to anyone facing a future recall. With any recall, the first step is alerting the public and removing any harmful product from store shelves and customers’ homes. Unlike the romaine lettuce recall, the majority […]
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Seamless Returns Start With Serial Numbers
Although serial numbers were initially created to track production, they are invaluable tools for reverse logistics. Here’s how they can streamline supply chains. Serialized products are easier to manage during the returns process. If retailers capture a serial number at the point of sale (PoS), they know an item was purchased from them, because they […]
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5 Steps to Preventing Brand Damage When Your Product Fails
A poorly handled product recall can devastate your company’s reputation, market share, and bottom line. With proper planning and systems in place, however, companies can effectively manage recalls to mitigate risk, as well as prevent brand damage. The key is not to think of a product recall as a singular event, but rather as a […]
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Rethinking Reverse Logistics for Online Apparel Returns
As virtual shopping bags replace physical ones, it’s important for retailers to update their policies and logistics strategies to align with consumer behavior and expectations. This is particularly the case when deciding how to handle apparel returns, which boast one of the highest return rates: One in three purchases are sent back. This trend, and […]
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Dialing In to the Secondhand Smartphone Market
More than any other mobile device, our gadget-centric society loves smartphones. The next big thing is always right around the corner. And that’s the phone we want. This compelling trend has spawned a budding market for secondhand smartphones. Many consumers are content to chase the next product generation one or two years behind if it […]
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Retailers Get Help With New DOT “Reverse Logistics” Rules
The U.S. Department of Transportation has finalized new shipping requirements aimed at retail stores that return hazmat products to a supplier or manufacturer for a refund. Because the hazmat products found in retail stores typically pose little risk to the public in small amounts, U.S. DOT has created a streamlined, simplified version of the hazmat […]
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Shedding Light on DIM Weight Returns
Volume shippers who send most of their goods to customers via parcel carriers know that a pound is not always a pound. Dimensional, or DIM, weight is a significant issue that can add up to millions of dollars in shipping expenses. For e-commerce shippers, customer returns are inevitable. Without a clear understanding and plan for […]
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Don’t Just Liquidate, Seek Scalable Solutions
Relaxed return policies create a competitive advantage for retailers but can wreak havoc on reverse logistics. Each year, consumers return hundreds of billions of dollars in merchandise, most of which can’t go back on the shelf due to diminished item condition, damaged packaging, or product obsolescence. No matter the reason, that’s a significant amount of […]
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Product Returns: 5 Myths Busted
Retailers and manufacturers often avoid dealing with product returns until returned inventory clogs up the warehouse or write-offs hit their P&L. When the returns problem gets big enough to force action, they attempt to deal with it as quickly and cheaply as possible. Executives often avoid returns issues because they believe in one or more […]
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Why Every Manufacturer Needs a Reverse Logistics Solution
The average manufacturer spends nine to 14 percent of total sales on product returns each year, according to an Aberdeen Group study. Yet an estimated 45 percent of manufacturers do not have a reverse logistics solution. They rely on retail or wholesale partners to deal with customer returns, recalls, and seasonal overstocks. Until the mid-1990s, […]
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Liquidate Inventory or Leave Money on the Table
Reverse logistics programs aim to efficiently remove returned and obsolete inventory from the primary sales channel to maximize recovery values while minimizing related financial risk. Retailers and manufacturers liquidate more than 95 percent of overstock inventory and customer returns on the secondary market. When evaluating the effectiveness of their returns process, many executives focus on […]
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