Retailers, parcel carriers, and 3PL platforms are preparing for massive holiday peak season volume in e-commerce, focusing resources and logistics strategies to meet all-time demand. As last mile logistics initiatives are set in motion, reverse logistics strategies must be in place to streamline the approximate 30% return rate of e-commerce orders.
Re-turnz First-Mile Logistics offers a seamless and on-demand consumer experience by picking up consumer returns at their doorstep, while streamlining the returns process for retailers and shippers by delivering returns to the most effective disposition location in their logistics network.
LAST MILE DELIVERY
The landscape of consumer shopping has fundamentally changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Consumers avoid brick-and-mortar shopping due to health and safety concerns, while lockdown restrictions have greatly reduced in-person traffic to traditional shopping centers. Thus, consumers are harnessing the convenience of online, same-day and next-day delivery, accelerating e-commerce to levels of growth 10 years ahead of schedule.
Not only are consumer habits on e-commerce changing, but their expectations for free and flexible returns are also hardening, setting the stage for at-home and on-demand returns pickup.
HOLIDAY RETURNS
According to Optoro, 54% of consumers reported returning at least one gift they received for the holidays in 2018, and in 2019, holiday returns swelled to $42 billion in e-commerce shopping alone. To put this in perspective, UPS processed over 1 million returns per day during December 2019. This wave is likely to be even larger this year as e-commerce continues to boom.
Going into the 2020 holiday season, retailers are seeking more options to manage their returns processes. In addition to flexibility in returns policies, retailers like Staples are offering their counters as optional dropoff points for returns. A pre-holiday study conducted by Google found that 60% of consumers have decreased time spent in stores, and 70% of shoppers are now consolidating trips to stores, demonstrating that people want to avoid one-off trips to drop off returns more than ever.
In preparation for the biggest holiday returns wave in history, retailers, parcel carriers, and 3PL platforms can streamline their returns processes by integrating with Re-turnz First-Mile Logistics technology. Re-turnz addresses the need for a more flexible, safe, and convenient returns experience by offering professional, contactless, and same-day pickup and delivery to parcel carrier or retailer returns locations.
RE-TURNZ VALUE PROPOSITION
Re-turnz blends on-demand drivers with first mile reverse shipping logistics of eCommerce fulfillment.
Unlike last mile logistics, the first mile of reverse logistics outsources fulfillment to the consumer, creating a universal pain-point in the customer experience. To differentiate the returns process for e-commerce platforms, and to enhance consumer experience and brand loyalty, Re-turnz offers the following:
- The first mile of reverse logistics now has a safe and at-home solution to move items from unlimited domestic locations to the most efficient disposition location.
- Brick-and-mortar retailers and parcel carriers have an at-home service that reaches their local customers, all the while centralizing return items at their stores for efficient disposition.
- Re-turnz diversifies the returns supply chain by deconstructing truckloads through an eco-friendly and new fleet of self-maintained and mission-ready drivers.
- Gig-economy drivers reluctant to engage in ride-share during the pandemic era are mobilized to process same-day and omni-channel orders at a rate never experienced before within the logistics industry. According to an ARC Advisory survey, up to 25% of retailers are now planning to add gig-economy drivers within the next 12 months.
PARTNERSHIP
The rapid growth of same-day and next-day deliveries must be met with equally consumer-centric and timely returns processing. E-commerce fulfillment does not stop at last mile delivery, which is why Re-turnz First-Mile Logistics is a differentiating service for any e-commerce platform.
Re-turnz is the first-to-market solution and currently operates in Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, TX. The Re-turnz business model can build scale by capturing density across retailers and carrier returns, with scalability goals for all major U.S. markets.
| Leadership: Jose Tamez, CEO; T Brandon La Lanne, CTO; Jamie Myers, Director – Product Development |
| Contact: 401 E. Sonterra Blvd, Ste. 375, San Antonio, TX 78258 |
| Email: Jose.tamez@Re-turnz.com ; Brandon.lalanne@Re-turnz.com ; Jamie.myers@Re-turnz.com |
| Videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJlolxIqfTMg00uYy76rd8w |
