Preparing for the E-Commerce Boom: The Need for Efficiency is Crucial

Since the global pandemic, online shopping has increased, thus resulting in a torrent of customer returns. Because of this, supply chain planning is more crucial than ever when thinking about reverse logistics.

Obstacles include:

• customer dissatisfaction
• returns
• shipping costs
• customer service tickets
• warehousing staging for returns
• the price of dismantling, reselling, and reusing returned goods

While these financial hurdles can be overwhelming for supply chain managers, the means of alleviating reverse logistics-related issues are not out of reach. 

To enhance strategies in these areas, leaders must give thought to ways to better efficiency. This could mean creating alternative plans with shipping companies or improving human labor regulations, as well as investing in technological advancements (e.g., robotics). Also, companies should review their long-standing policies on returns to better suit the customer’s needs and consider outsourcing to help with reverse logistics.

Source: Supply & Demand Chain Executive