Why Retail Returns Become a Technology Problem as Businesses Grow
The return looks simple from the customer's side. The customer sends the product back. The retailer receives it, processes the return, issues a refund, and puts the item back into inventory if it can be sold again. Behind that simple transaction, however, several systems may need to agree. The ecommerce platform has an original order. The payment system has a transaction. The warehouse has the returned product. The inventory system needs to know whether it can sell that product again. Finance needs to record the refund. Customer service needs to know what happened. When a retailer has few returns, employees can often fill the gaps manually. As the business grows, that approach becomes harder to maintain . The return itself isn't necessarily difficult . Keeping every system in sync is. Returns Touch More Systems Than Most Retailers Expect Consider a customer who buys a jacket online and returns it to a physical store. The store needs to identify the original order, confi...
