The advent of e-commerce has ushered in a new propensity for returns. Unlike physical locations, the nature of e-commerce means that many customers will be sending back their original items for the same item in a larger size or color or even a different item if they choose. Sometimes they will order a few items with the sole intention of trying them on and keeping one or two items.
What does this mean to the modern e-commerce venture? It means that they will need a flexible and versatile inventory management system if they are going to keep their profit margins thick despite the many returns.
Dealing with Returns
There are some e-commerce outlets that have a greater range of products, have various return locations or work with physical retail outlets where returns can be made. These are the e-commerce locations in the greatest need of an effective inventory management system.
E-commerce businesses attempting to rely on traditional inventory management solutions can easily find their product return processes are unable to handle the high amounts of returns that can be generated each month. Furthermore, these traditional methods lack the tracking capacity necessary to ensure that the returned products are returned to the regular stock supplies and ready for resale.
Unified Inventory Management
Another solution that can improve your inventory management process is working from a unified e-commerce and retail database. This will keep a comprehensive records of all your products alongside their identification codes, descriptions and even images that all facilitate the return process and ensure nothing is wasted.
Furthermore, a unified inventory management system will include notifications for low stock or overstock levels, inventory forecast and business intelligence that can help avoid any of the worst risks involved with a return process gone awry.
The inventory management system can be used to set some important guidelines to your return process in regard to handling or if necessary disposing of returned products. These guidelines can include things like required notes for returned products or other actions based on the conditions specific to the item.
The Final Solution to Effective Inventory Management for your E-commerce Return Process
The large number of returns from fastidious and clients doesn’t have to get you down or hamper your smooth operations. When using a modern web-based inventory app that features all the tools for item tracking and advanced order management, you will have the solutions you need to keep the returns process down to a precise routine. This will keep your inventory efficiently managed and your stock from being lost.
