Trying to tackle a mess of returns, whether online or in the store, is quite an undertaken. There are so many facets to the process that companies don’t see dealing with it as a cost effective way to do business. So instead they rely on third-parties to come in and help them deal with returns and the whole reverse logistics process.
Many companies like Sears and GM took the liberty of hiring outside firms to take care of their reverse logistics. The third-party reverse logistics providers would come in and after careful analysis of the situation, came up with a game plan that saves both businesses a huge headache and money. They helped reduce the time involved in processing returned goods. Where before Sears would lose a lot of money in returns, they now save on money because the returned items are scanned into the system, thereby giving credit to the store, which originally sold it. Once this information is scanned into the system, a trend analysis is conducted to understand the reason for the returns. Once the reasons are uncovered, a plan is put into place to correct the flaws and make the product better. GM also faired better after hiring an outside firm because the firm consolidated all returns into one outlet so this way all returned parts, in some cases up to 30,000 in a month, would go to one facility. They would scan those parts into a system and credit the dealer who sold the part.