Importance of Returns within Reverse Logistics

Importance of Returns within Reverse Logistics

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discussion that you are required to address are:

Explain and describe an experience that you had with regards to returns (retail or wholesale)

Describe and determine if the experience was good or bad (positive or negative)

Offer constructive feedback on your experience that could be applied to improve the returns process

Importance of Returns within Reverse Logistics
Product returns play a vital role within the reverse logistics. Firms working in
reverse logistics are taking product returns seriously in order to make strategies that will
recapture value, enhance customer satisfaction, ensure proper disposal and create competitive
advantages. Therefore, product return is vital to process to improve visibility and lower cost
across the supply chain network. Working as the store accountant in a retailing company, product
returns is one of the main processes that the retailer has used to strategically improve its services
(Shaharudin, Govindan, Zailani, Tan & Iranmanesh, 2017).

I have had different experiences working within the reverse logistics. For
instance, customer returns can arrive at the store without prior notice or knowledge and
authorization. This has caused the company many capacity issues within the storage resources as
the store manager tries to plan our resources based on the outbound and inbound deliveries in the
system. Lack of communication with customers makes the department to take more time to
process because the information has to be found about the returns and its waste resources. This
experience was hugely challenging, and it allowed the department to plan effectively and
enhance its operations. It was a positive experience as it allowed me to establish how important it

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is to handle returns strategically in order to increase visibility, creating resource capacity,
recapture value and ensure proper disposal of waste products.

According to Shaharudin (2017), the company can improve its handling processes
of returns and ensuring effective communication with customers and having packages with bar-
code labels. The store will not spend extra or any time in assessing and investigating the details
of product returns. Besides, the products can be placed in a strategic location for returns’
processing. The firm should ensure proper communication within the return process in order to
keep customers happy and place right structures and network design to ensure real-time database
and feedback to customers. The retailer can also adopt a closed-loop logistic activity in order to
improve reverse logistics effectiveness.

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References

Shaharudin, M. R., Govindan, K., Zailani, S., Tan, K. C., & Iranmanesh, M. (2017). Product
return management: Linking product returns, closed-loop supply chain activities and the
effectiveness of the reverse supply chains. Journal of cleaner production, 149, 1144-
1156.