Last month at the Reverse Logistics Association Conference Evavi participated on a panel discussion about creating a customer-centric reverse supply chain strategy; gave a presentation about optimal solutions for complex multi-party, multi-channel, and multi-program returns; and unveiled our Synchronized Reverse Logistics Solution.
Evavi's solution for reverse logistics is the first that is Internet-native and architected from the core to handle the most challenging multi-dimensional reverse logistics requirements through simple user-based configurations. Evavi's new solution enables clients to onboard new customers, channels, and programs in hours. Amazingly simple and cost-effective.
Research shows that while most companies are so focused on getting everything exactly right with their outbound logistics (because that's the area supporting new revenue generation), many companies overlook the importance of their reverse logistics.
There are some good reasons for this, not the least of which is that for every 1 step required to process inventory in forward logistics, it takes 12 steps to process back through reverse logistics according to AMR Research. This added complexity is not accommodated by traditional WMS and ERP packages, and is, therefore, often set aside to be dealt with "later."
Leading companies are now realizing that "later" needs to be now.
Gartner has estimated that "Broken returns processes can erode net profits by 30 percent and more".
Accenture has also weighed in with studies showing that it costs "4 to 5 times more to process the reverse logistics of a returned item as it does to process the original sale through forward logistics."
The result all this is that in many industries stranded returns can represent 6% to 35% of top-line revenue.
What to do?
Most companies would benefit from starting with a few essential questions to gain deeper insights into what is going on within their reverse logistics:
- Why does profit erosion occur?
- Where are the increased costs?
- Why does the process take so long?
- Why is inventory stranded?
- Why does the customer experience suffer?
- Why is there a lack of end-to-end visibility?
- Why is compliance so challenging?
These are just a few example questions that start to get at the fundamental challenges and underlying opportunity to fix the reverse logistics process.
AMR Research conducted a survey recently on reverse logistics. They published some interesting findings, including:
- Of the 32 companies [AMR Research] spoke with, only 1 manages these enterprise [returns] processes in a single system. Because of the geographic, product, and process complexities, the remaining 31 companies had multiple systems to manage returns.
- One of the obstacles in managing returns is data. Too few companies have clean and timely data to drive decisions. In [AMR's] interviews, only 3 of the 32 companies had a single point of contact that could provide a complete data set for all of their returns. The remaining 29 companies required, on average, three to four respondents to get the data.
For those interested in deploying a reverse logistics solution to overcome these two challenges and many others, it is important to identify a solution that offers the following capabilities:
- Synchronize end-to-end returns processes
- Rapidly configure business processes & rules
- Compress time to asset recovery
- Reduce labor & technology costs
- Provide real-time visibility
- Improve customer service experience
- Enhance controls and compliance
If you would be interested in viewing a short video demonstration of Evavi's reverse logistics solution, please let me know and I will arrange a personalized viewing for you.
