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Product Returns and Supply Chain

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Consider an item you have recently returned. Identify the steps the company would have to go through to return the product back up the supply chain from where you have returned it. What costs do you think would be involved in this process? Is there a way the company can design this reverse logistics process in order to add value and make a profit?

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Question of items returned is answered in 728 words. Four sources are cited.

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I had purchased a physical book on Amazon.com. I was notified upon purchase that if I returned the book within 30 days, I would receive a full refund of the cost of the book, shipping included. A few days after I received the book, I decided to returned it. In order to return the book, I first printed out a mailing label on Amazon.com. I then packaged the book, and dropped it off at a FedEx store.

The mailing address for the mailing label stated that the book was to be delivered to Warehouse Deals, Inc., not Amazon.com. Warehouse Deals, Inc. was the company that had sold the book to me. Amazon.com was the intermediary retailer facilitating the sale. Because the mailing label was for the seller, Amazon.com did not need to perform any special steps to return the product back up the supply chain.

Amazon and Warehouse Deals would have to communicate with each other in order to ensure that Warehouse Deals did indeed receive the returned book in a timely manner, and that I was credited a refund. Warehouse Deals was itself a retailer. Most likely, Warehouse Deals would keep the book for a certain length of time to see if it sold ...

Solution provided by:
J Pye, MSc
Education
  • MSc, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
  • MBA, University of California, Riverside
  • BSc, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
  • BSc, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
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