Thanks to online shopping, buying Christmas presents is now easier than ever, despite the raging pandemic. Once Black Friday approaches, it looks like Christmas has come early for many retailers. However, once the holiday season is over, these retailers see a flood of returned merchandise worthy of the Grinch.

Reverse logistics and returns after Christmas pose a major logistical and financial challenge for many retailers. According to the CBRE, about 30%, or $42 billion, worth of Christmas gifts were expected to be returned after the 2019 holiday season.

From a customer’s perspective, returning merchandise makes perfect sense. After all, why shouldn’t someone return an item that is the wrong color or wrong size or if they received two of them as gifts? However, for retailers, Christmas returns are a logistical and financial nightmare.

The Real Cost of Christmas Returns

For retailers, reverse logistics is something entirely different than what the customer thinks. Most retailers have a return policy — often a free return policy — because it encourages more sales since about 68% of customers will view the return policy before buying something, according to SaleCycle.

So not only do retailers have to set up a returns policy which has favorable terms for the customers, they also have to go through the hassle of:

·       building a relationship with a reliable courier service,

·       employing a bigger staff to handle returned goods,

·       examine why the item was returned,

·       Repackage and re-advertise the item for resale

·       Lose money in the process.

So what is the solution to prevent the loss of time, effort, and money in order to deal with returns? Some retailers factor in the return costs into their prices since they expect 20% of the items to be returned. However, there are more feasible ways that can help retailers deal with reverse logistics.

Smarter Logistics Solutions

The key to handling reverse logistics is to manage efficiency across return supply chains. This doesn’t merely mean the transportation of the items, but also factor in their storage, impact on sales, quality control, and data entry, as well as the additional costs.

With smarter logistics solutions, you can balance efficiency and profitability so that you do not have to deal with haphazard coordination, bad customer service and the risk of uncertain deliveries.

Through the use of automation and smart devices, retailers and consumers can effortlessly and correctly share item return details and logistic data in real-time, which can be accessed through various channels. The returned item may be quickly scanned, returned, and placed back into sale with the help of automated warehouse service that handles customers’ returns and queries.

Customer Service Chatbots

Automated returns processes can improve customer experience, but retailers also need to ensure excellent customer service. This is where business intelligence software like chatbots comes in.

Customer service staff deals with the same queries about returns 80% of the time. For tasks that are repetitive and can be easily mapped, like reverse logistics, chatbots can offer precise data on a customer’s order instantly. In addition, they cost much less than a customer service agent, which means they help in offsetting the cost of reverse logistics.

Why Should You Contact Cloud Café?

It is hoped that the cost, inconvenience, effort, and stress caused by reverse logistics and returns after Christmas may be offset completely due to the advancements in AI technology used for ecommerce software development.

At Cloudcafe Technologies, we offer you the opportunity to automate your logistics and other ecommerce processes through smart technology. Doing so can help you save time, effort, and a lot of money in the end.

To schedule an appointment with us, visit us at https://cloudcafe.io/ or call us today at (847) 235-6443.

About CloudCafe 

CloudCafe is the eCommerce evolution of Aurora Digital which was established in 1998 by Sanjeev Srivastava. Bringing together talent, creativity, and foresight, Cloudcafe utilizes local and offshore development teams to deliver end-to-end solutions. By leveraging high-end technical consulting, custom software development and our own software, we provide more insight and achieve an all-around better customer experience for our clients.

Cloudcafe brewing cloud solutions for digital commerce age