While reading the Zappos it was
interesting to see how the company was managing product return from its
customers. To be able to provide their
customers the option of returning products they didn’t want to keep, Zappos had
to incorporate this functionality into its Supply Chain. They had to set up a reverse
supply chain, one that takes the product from the customers and brings it back
to their warehouse. The concept of Reverse Supply Chains is also discussed in
the Herman Miller case where the Cradle- Cradle (C2C) design protocol requires
the product to be retrieved from the customers once it has reached the end of
its useful life and then recycled and turned into another useful product.
Many companies are starting to
set up reverse supply chains either to conform to environmental regulations, or
as an opportunity to reduce operating costs by reusing their products. Increase
in online shopping and direct-to-home shipments across the globe has also lead
to an increase in delivery mistakes, and product returns.
An example of companies being
forced to implement reverse supply chain is the European Union’s legislation
which requires all tire manufactures operating in Europe to recycle one used
tire for every new tire they sell. On the other hand Kodak is recycling its
disposable cameras to reduce its operating costs.
Companies that have product return policies realized
that treating returns on individual basis and separate from their main
operations was not very efficient. By setting up dedicated reverse supply
chains companies could not only make the return process, quick, efficient, and
cost effective but also improve the customer satisfaction.
Reverse Supply chain process can
be divided into 3 main activities:
Product Acquisition: involves collecting the product from the
customers. The timing, quality and quantity of the returns need to be managed
effectively to make the process profitable. Companies may work with retailers
and other distributors to coordinate the collection. Even the customers can be
used to return the products by using a leasing model where customers lease the
product and return it once they were finished using it.
Inspection
and Sorting: Once the product has been collected
from the customer it has to be inspected, sorted. Effective inspection and
sorting will help in the disposition of the returned goods, and help reduce storage
costs of returned goods. The quicker the returned goods can be moved along to the
disposition process the quicker they can be remanufactured, or disassembled and
reused.
Reconditioning: Based on the condition of the
returned goods the company makes a choice of disposition, the item may be
repaired, refurbished, remanufactured, disassembled for parts, or recycled. Companies
may choose to send the returned goods to third parties for recycling. Repairs and refurbishments may be made in
house and products added back into the inventory.
As global competition between companies for customer
attention and loyalty heats up there is increased focus on customer retention.
Companies are trying to retain their existing customers by offering them
upgrades to products they currently own. Customers are offered new products in
exchange for their old ones for a small fee. With this upgrade model for
customer retention, managing the reverse supply chain effectively is critical
to decreasing operating costs of handling the old returned products. Companies
that are able to efficiently reuse, or recycle the returned products will have
a competitive advantage.
References
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