[ad_1]
Over the past couple of years, the world has witnessed the rapid digital transformation from today’s retailers to the online marketplace. As more and more consumers focus on online shopping, the new face of retail continues. The first half of 2020 saw an increase in online shopping of 77% year after year, totaling $ 82.5 billion. As brick-and-mortar stores increase their footprint and investments in e-commerce, the task of processing returns has become central to the shopping experience.
Some online retailers recording return rates as high as 30%, an important part of a company’s operations must be devoted to the processing of declarations. It is now vital for retailers in the e-commerce space to invest in a returns management system (RMS) solution that can take heavy and time-consuming returns from the shoulders of the business and simplify the process of becoming a business. streamlined part of their daily activities. Some might not think that a streamlined RMS solution is essential to the survival of a business, but consider that 92% of online shoppers said they would make another purchase from a retailer if they experienced a previous quick and easy return process.
Returns are costly for businesses because they have to examine the returned product, refurbish it, and put it back in stock. Returns are also a highly fraudulent endeavor. The quite common reality is that some buyers make bulk purchases of one or more items just to keep the original item and get their money back while reselling the original item for a profit. This is one of the threats that retailers guard against when they integrate an RMS platform to track fraud and continue to generate rising revenue.
An end-to-end returns management solution helps support – B2B, B2C, e-commerce, manufacturers and third-party logistics providers (3PLs) – increase their profit margins, streamline returns processing, accelerate credit speed and reduce losses of income.
What methods should an RMS solution combine to manage a company’s returns logistics? The platform divides returns management logistics into three areas: initiating returns, handling returns, and tracking / retrieval.
1. Returns the initiation. The main goal of the “post-purchase†experience is to ensure that the process of returning a product is as easy for the consumer as it was to purchase the item. In addition, a retailer has the visibility necessary to determine why a product has been returned when the return is requested. Visibility is extremely important for the business to receive valuable information that helps them make replenishment decisions and limit fraudulent returns. Visibility also allows the customer to get updates on their return status and reduces the time they spend calling customer service agents, which helps the brand promote a positive customer experience.
2. Processing of returns. This next step in the returns stage focuses on leveraging the data to determine if the cost of shipping the returned product to the company’s warehouse is more expensive than the product itself. This is especially important for e-commerce retailers operating globally. Based on this determination, the retailer may ask the customer to keep the original item while sending them a new one. Alternatively, if the customer returns the defective product, the RMS solution will determine which warehouse location is best suited to replace it. This determination is generally based on proximity and inventory fulfillment needs. Suppose that repairs are needed on the item before it is put back into stock for resale. In this case, the RMS platform will manage the item inspection and product grading process by enlisting the help of the departments or employees needed to manage the repairs while the solution tracks progress.
3. Follow-up and recovery. This is the final phase of the returns process that strongly affects members of the shipping and warehouse team. With the ultimate goal of quickly returning the returned product to inventory for resale, the RMS solution must first determine which warehouse to send it to before final disposition. Then the platform will make recovery efforts to reduce inventory waste and loss of profit. The platform will perform this final step of the returns process by integrating with the retailer’s existing technology systems.
Today’s retailers must be equipped with a critically important RMS solution to thrive and succeed in an ever-changing digital age. Online businesses can reduce product loss and increase revenue and positive customer service efforts by leveraging the required digital transformation demanded by today’s multifaceted consumer. Gone are the days of spending hours or days processing returns and going back and forth with customers. Now is the time to embrace a digital system that will manage this process so that supply chain leaders can return to delivering exceptional service and quality products while increasing brand viability and protecting bottom lines always. important.
[ad_2]
