In today’s marketplace, returns of merchandise can be a significant expense to the retailer, which in the long run can equate to thousands and sometime even millions of pounds from their bottom line. Studies have shown that an average of 4% to 6% of all retail purchases are returned and in the current economic climate it is more important than ever for retailers to find solutions to this ever-present issue.
Torque is a specialist in the field of reverse logistics – over the years the company has worked closely with many of its customers to reduce the amount of discarded stock and turn merchandise back into profit.
Unsold Items – Transporting Stock
Seasonal trends, individual and/or popular opinion has a dramatic effect on whether a line sells well or not. Most retailers will have issues with their ranges at one time or another. This is where a knowledgeable logistics partner can come into play and assist a retailer in either strategically placing stock in locations where the item in questions will have a better chance of selling or diverting it to another trading channel, such as an outlet store. Torque is the expert in carrying out this particular type of reverse logistics and knows that to deliver an effective solution, time is of the essence.
Make and Mend
No matter what the industry, returns will always be an issue. Torque works closely with its customers to monitor returns by quickly and efficiently logging the reasons behind them as well as highlighting any fundamental problems with the product. In fashion if quality and presentation is in question, Torque has a specialist team of seamstresses and a state of the art processing centre to expertly refurbish and return a product to its original, if not enhanced, standard. From sewing to dry cleaning and pressing to ozone treatment, there are many cost effective services available to restore an item and bring it back to stock.
Case Study: Daxbourne International
When leading hair piece specialist, Daxbourne International, expanded its multi channel revenue streams, retail, wholesale, e-commerce, mail order and TV shopping channels, the growth of the business meant that it needed to increase its supply chain operation. With such a complex product offering, Daxbourne required a supply chain partner that specialised in reverse logistics. It was also vitally important to Daxbourne that this partner really understood its business and its customers. Torque, renowned for its meticulous attention to detail and breadth of processing services, was able to offer Daxbourne the perfect platform for its growing business.
Due to the nature of the hair piece market, customers will always need the opportunity to try and test the product. This means that there will always be a high percentage of returns and these will require processing and quality checking. On winning the Daxbourne contract, Torque recruited two team members with experience in hairdressing, to quality check all returns and provide refurbishment services where necessary before items are returned to stock. Once each item has gone back into the supply chain, Daxbourne receives an automated report detailing which customer to credit. Torque also provides the software to produce a stock rectification report, which is supplied every evening and calculates Daxbourne’s stock levels per revenue stream against the end of day stock levels at Torque, to ensure both figures correspond.
Richard Lipton, Managing Director, Daxbourne International Ltd: “With the continued growth and expansion of our company it became clear we needed a specialist logistics company to partner with us in order to continue to provide the excellent service standards we had established for ourselves.
After a careful selection process it became clear Torque were perfectly positioned to carry out this function and assist in additional ways regarding our inward freight arrangements too. We have been working together successfully for 18 months and have been very happy with our decision to go with Torque.”
Torque has a portfolio of customers it has worked with to successfully reduce their returns issues and in turn, has added huge value to their overall business.
Torque
Tel: 0800 085 5510
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