After goods are finally sold to the consumers, a gap is created right through the supply chain. Reverse logistics, therefore, is required to fill this gap by covering all the aftermarket procedures with the aim of saving money and utilizing environmental resources wisely.
There are many reasons why a good may be returned to the manufacturer after the sale has been completed. Insufficient quality check and failure to comply with the standard measures may result in a good being returned. Reverse control helps damage control rather than market share and competitive advantaged.
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Shipping the goods back to the manufacturer would be an appropriate thing to do considering the amount of money required to repair the phones per unit. Shipping the phones back to the manufacturer will consume a lot of time considering all the verification process required, however, more cost will be spent per hour on repairing the phones.
While buying back the rejected units may be a good strategy to enhance the goodwill of a customer, developing a warranty and a return policy might be beneficial might be beneficial as well (Ardeshirilajimi & Azadivar, 2015). Organizations and retailers should come up with a strategy of giving warranty to certain goods especially electronics. This will encourage consumers to buy these goods knowing that, in case of discrepancies, they will be compensated. However, goods may be returned to the manufactures depending on the level of the discrepancies. This may be done on a transparent procedure to ensure that the customers are satisfied, and company's interest is met.
For optimum warehouse efficiency, companies have a duty in ensuring an appropriate inventory control. Companies should make sure there is stability in the amount of goods in the store to allow free flow of goods. This should be done on alert of the incoming returns that are likely to affect the storage capacity in the warehouse. For optimal storage efficiency, companies should ensure there is, an automatic data collection, availability of reliable picking procedures, favorable dock arrival time, vendor compliance program therefor bringing all inventory to the warehouse at a required time, and good return management techniques (Gu & Tagaras, 2014). All returns need to be scrutinized well for a resell value. This is often done through good return management thus enables there is no loss of goods.
For refund, customers must meet the following conditions,
There should be a limit of 45 days request to the client's service upon the purchase day.
The product should be returned to the company for a refund, and it should be in good condition.
Return authorization number should be inclusive to the product.
Customers may have different views on goods and services depending on their level of satisfaction. However, to avoid loss of customer's satisfaction, a company may take certain steps and measures. These measures include the elimination of slow or lost shipment, reducing discrepancies in shipments, and ensuring that customer's service and satisfaction are improved (Ardeshirilajimi & Azadivar, 2015). Improving customer's satisfaction may come in different aspects such as, improving the level of reliability of delivery, improving customer's efficiency especially in shipping, and truly handling disputes by increasing customer awareness.
While it is good for a company to apply reverse logistics for the sake of its image, the process is not short of certain implications. Some of these implications include, the process being expensive to manage, difficulties in determining what to do with the returned products or materials, and complexity of the process.
On the other hand, implementing a reliable reverse logistics has a great impact on the customer's future image of the company. Through reverse logistics, customers are safeguarded from shipment discrepancies, lost shipments, and it also helps the customers to reduce inventory investments and improved delivery of goods and services.
A successfully reverse logistics is necessary for the development of a company. However, for a company to establish a reliable reverse logistics, it requires some strict analysis (Gu & Tagaras, 2014). For a successful logistic process, a company may decide to do the following, establish a clear system for monitoring real-time, outsourcing its logistics to a 3PL vendor system, figuring out its distribution centers as well as the warehouse for reverse logistics, and communicating to the consumers during the return process.
While a company ought to sell its goods without return, it is mandatory for a successful company to establish a good reverse logistics to avoid inconvenience toward its consumers. Therefore a company has to come up with a system that will satisfy its customers to want more despite a returned product in the process.
References
Ardeshirilajimi, A., & Azadivar, F. (2015) Reverse supply chain plan for remanufacturing commercial returns. International journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 77(9-12), 1767.doi:10.1007/s00170-014-6509-9
Gu, Q., & Tagaras, G. (2014). Optimal collection and remanufacturing decisions in reverse supply chains with collector’s imperfect sorting. International journal of production Research, 52(17), 5155. doi:10.1080/00207543.2014.899720
