Recovering value from returned goods

As retailers now need to get more involved in the reverse supply chain, Christian Salvesen has developed an innovative in-house IT system to make sure they recover as much value as possible.

The reverse supply chain raises problems not normally encountered in the forward supply chain. Activity is random and unpredictable so cannot be used to plan resources, items are normally damaged or without packaging, their value can vary, as can the geographical area from which they came.

The route to recovering value is complex and the costs involved can be hugely disproportionate. Retailers also have to work within new legislation governing the reverse supply chain processes, such as the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations (WEEE).

Our IT system BACTRAC is designed to offer a cost-effective reverse logistics operation. Major benefits are reduced processing, reduced transport costs, recovery-cycle time, getting the best value from the returned product and enabling more products to be sold that season.