Every year, gift returns and repairs in January are at an all-time high, while new sales tend to be at an all time low. More than at any other time, the new year period is the time to work smartly in order to ensure that you don’t wipe out great December profits with poor return supply chain efficiencies.
A lot of money can be lost through poor planning and theft during the return process. However, with the right systems and processes in place, it could be the best January your company has had in a while.
Maximising January profits starts with having a process in place to deal with return volumes. Not only will your vehicles be doing deliveries to stores – they’ll also need to do collections. This has implications for one’s route planning, as well as the amount of stock that can be delivered at any given time, considering the fact that vehicles will also need to plan to take returns. Complex operations can be assisted by a route optimisation tool can coordinate the best routes for vehicles considering all of these factors.
Pilfer-proof your operation through greater visibility of stock.
Reasons for returns range from damaged packaging to products that need repairs. With greater volumes of stock returning on trucks to the warehouse, it’s easy to lose track of all of the items being moved around – which in turn increases the risk of theft.
Technology makes it possible to scan items being collected by each vehicle at various delivery points. This information may then be integrated into a WMS that enables users to verify whether all returned stock has in fact arrived back at the warehouse. Real-time technology makes it possible for those receiving the goods at the warehouse to scan and check each item being returned, making it virtually impossible for items to go missing in transit.
Aim for a quick turnaround time
Once the returned goods are back in the warehouse, companies need to aim to get them ready to sell again in as short a space of time as possible. This means assessing them to see if they need to be repaired, repackaged or simply moved to the front of the queue for saleable goods that are about to leave the warehouse. This is particularly important considering goods that have a shelf life.
Every day these goods are back in the warehouse, they’re impacting on your bottom line, so it’s important to get them back on the shelves as soon as possible. Efficiency at each step of the returns process is key, ensuring that they’re the first items that leave the warehouse again to fill orders.
Contributed by: Grant Marshbank, Chief Operations Officer, VSc Solutions
