The Holidays are likely a busy time for your ecommerce business. Right about now, you might be fulfilling orders and concentrating on meeting your customers’ needs in the festive rush. But, spare a little time to consider your reverse logistics or returns’ policy in time for January. Did you know that approximately 30% online purchases result in a return? Or that, according to UPS, 95% of customers who have had a bad experience returning an item with a company will not buy from that company again? If you haven’t considered how to handle the increased numbers of returns, then read on to find out how Red River Freight could help.

What is reverse logistics?

Reverse logistics is the process of moving goods from a customer back to the seller or manufacturer. Most commonly used in the returns process, the process also involves recalls, repairs, repackaging and recycling.

Why is reverse logistics problematic for SME?

Returns processing, also referred to as reverse logistics, is a hugely important part of ecommerce business. But for smaller and medium enterprises, it can be a huge headache and one that, on face value at least, doesn’t even have the benefit of earning you money. It takes up valuable time that you could be devoting to other important aspects of your business. Plus, it can be hard to know what to do with the returned items, for instance, can they be resold or will they need to be disposed of safely? 

Should I outsource my reverse logistics to a 3PL provider?

The good news is, when you work with Red River Freight, we can take care of all your reverse logistics for you. Once your customer initiates a return and their return label is generated, the rest of the process is out of your hands. The item will be shipped to our warehouse where a member of our diligent team will open and inspect the product to see if it can be resold, repaired or must be disposed of. If it can be resold, we’ll simply repackage and store along with the rest of your inventory. If it needs to be repaired, we’ll endeavour to do this for you or will alternatively send you batch shipments of goods in need of repair at a time that’s suitable for you. If it needs to be disposed of, we can take care of this for you (even in the event that the product must be disposed of as hazardous waste).

Want to know more about how we could help with your reverse logistics? Get in touch with a member of the team today.