Mapping product returns processes in multichannel retailing: challenges and opportunities
Mapping product returns processes in multichannel retailing: challenges and opportunities
An increasing percentage of products in multichannel retail are being returned, yet many retailers and manufacturers are not aware of the importance and scale of this issue. Similarly, the literature on online returns is limited. Returns processes can be very complicated, contain many manual steps that have several variations, unclear decision-making rules and, at the handling stage, often involve low-wage third-party employees guided by patchy IT systems. This article maps the complexity of product returns processes, highlights challenges and identifies opportunities for improvement, thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of the emerging field of product returns research. It also concludes that it is essential for returns to be made a strategic priority at the senior management level, implementing a Lean approach to returns systems. The research was based on 4 case studies, 17 structured interviews and 3 retail community workshops, all with British and other Western European retailers. Through triangulation of individual data, a generic process map for retail returns was created and implications for sustainability, loss prevention and profit optimisation are examined.
Product returns, Retail, Reverse supply chains, Sustainability
Frei, Regina
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Jack, Lisa
a6ce44ff-fb81-4997-a9fd-772225b587ce
Krzyzaniak, Sally-Ann
ca10bad7-a2cf-4234-a8b9-9e14a15d67ff
1 February 2022
Frei, Regina
fa00170f-356a-4a0d-8030-d137fd855880
Jack, Lisa
a6ce44ff-fb81-4997-a9fd-772225b587ce
Krzyzaniak, Sally-Ann
ca10bad7-a2cf-4234-a8b9-9e14a15d67ff
Frei, Regina, Jack, Lisa and Krzyzaniak, Sally-Ann
(2022)
Mapping product returns processes in multichannel retailing: challenges and opportunities.
Sustainability, 14 (3), [1382].
(doi:10.3390/su14031382).
Abstract
An increasing percentage of products in multichannel retail are being returned, yet many retailers and manufacturers are not aware of the importance and scale of this issue. Similarly, the literature on online returns is limited. Returns processes can be very complicated, contain many manual steps that have several variations, unclear decision-making rules and, at the handling stage, often involve low-wage third-party employees guided by patchy IT systems. This article maps the complexity of product returns processes, highlights challenges and identifies opportunities for improvement, thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of the emerging field of product returns research. It also concludes that it is essential for returns to be made a strategic priority at the senior management level, implementing a Lean approach to returns systems. The research was based on 4 case studies, 17 structured interviews and 3 retail community workshops, all with British and other Western European retailers. Through triangulation of individual data, a generic process map for retail returns was created and implications for sustainability, loss prevention and profit optimisation are examined.
Text
sustainability-14-01382
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 21 January 2022
Published date: 1 February 2022
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
Funding: This research was funded by the ECR Retail Loss Group (https://www.ecrloss.com, accessed on 3 December 2021); no grant number.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Keywords:
Product returns, Retail, Reverse supply chains, Sustainability
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 454428
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/454428
ISSN: 2071-1050
PURE UUID: 7bd25456-46c2-47f8-b686-c46f58fb7d42
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Date deposited: 09 Feb 2022 17:36
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:56
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Contributors
Author:
Regina Frei
Author:
Lisa Jack
Author:
Sally-Ann Krzyzaniak
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