b'20American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comWith e-commerce on the rise, reverse logistics takes center stageReturns processes emerge as important element of customer experience, but there are some pitfalls to avoid.By Peter Buxbaum, AJOTWithe-commerceplay- their returns to a location that isonline but did not meet con-ingagrowingroleinthemore convenient for the retailersumersexpectationsfora United States economy, spik- or carrier variety of reasons.ing as it did during the heightAsPillerpointsout, of the COVID-19 pandemic, P rodUCte valUation and 32% of consumers said that online retailers and their ser- r etUrns takingreturnstoalogistics vice providers must pay moreConvenience, product selec- provider was the most incon-attention to reverse logistics,tion,andprices,areamongvenientpartofthereturns especially in the aftermath ofthe other reasons consumersexperienceifretailersdo the holiday shopping season.choose e-commerce, accord- not expect consumers to pick Returns have become part ofingtoLizLasater,CEOofup their purchase from logis-theoverallcustomerexperi- Red Owl Logistics, a freightticsproviders,whydothey enceandshouldbepartofforwarder.Unlikeinbrick- expect the consumer to bring retailers business plans.and-mortarstoresconsum- their returns back to one?The National Retail Fed- ers cannot evaluate productsBesidespricesandselec-eration(NRF)hasreportedbefore they purchase them,tion,customerservicehas that196.7millionAmeri- shesaid.Thatleadstoabecomecompetitiveelements cansshoppedinstoresandlargenumberofreturnsfor(CENTERcontinued onBEUMERs pouch technology eases the handling of returns by placing each online during the period fromitemsthatwerepurchasedpage 22) item directly into a pouch that circulates on an overhead conveying system.Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday in 2022, 17 million more than 2021. Consumers are expected to have returned over $1 trillion worth of mer-chandiselastyear,upfrom $760 million in 2021, accord-ingtoNRFnumbersand thatfigurecouldtop$1.6 trillionby2027,according toarecentreportfromthe Forresteradvisorygroup. Expenses for reverse logistics total around $100 billion each yearintheUnitedStates, accordingtotheconsulting firm Aberdeen Group. COVID accelerated the adoptionofe-commerce, notedMarkDelaney,avice president at FourKites, a pro-viderofasupply-chainvis-ibilityplatform.Because of that, a lot of retailers are struggling with a tsunami of returns.Butthereareother factorsimpactingreturns besides the pandemic. One is economic. Everyone is trying to make their dollar go as far as they can.Whiletheresnodoubt COVID altered the landscape for reverse logistics, how the pandemic impacts the indus-try long-term is still a ques-tion mark.ChristianPiller,COO of Pollen Returns, a technol-ogy company designed to help retailers to leverage their cur-rent inventory through quicker recovery of returns, says of the currentstateofreverselogis-tics, Its easier to understand howCOVIDalteredreverse logisticsintheshort-term consumers were at home, they ordered and returned morebut its more difficult to understand whatmeaningful,long-term impacts there will be. Returns areexpensivefortheretailer withtheneedtoholdaddi-tionalinventoryandthecost per package; costly for the car-riers if they are to pick up from consumers; frustrating for con-sumers as they must navigate multiple processes and act as a logisticsproviderbybringing'