Is Reverse Logistics Becoming the Need of the Hour in India?

The growth of the e-commerce industry has led to an increase in the demand for reverse logistics. With customers expecting quick and easy return policies for their products, a strong and viable reverse logistics system needs to be put in place to ensure customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. Reverse logistics deals with the movement of goods from the customer to the seller or manufacturer. 

Reverse logistics is used when goods are moved from their final destination to another location to recapture value or for final disposal. With the booming growth of the Indian e-commerce industry, reverse logistics in India has become even more relevant due to real-time feedback and returns initiated by customers.

The Five Rs of Reverse Logistics

Customer satisfaction involves both deliveries of goods and also the return of goods from the customer in a timely and speedy manner. It would not be wise to keep customers waiting for the pick-up of returned goods. Reverse logistics can be categorised into five areas:

1. Returns

Returns are the first stage of the reverse logistics flow process. Products may be returned for a variety of reasons and a process needs to be in place to receive, inspect and test the products returned by the customers.

2. Recalls

Recalls involve removing a product from the market due to a defect or potential hazard. Recalls need to be handled quickly and delicately to avoid accident or liability concerns. Although recalls create a negative customer experience, a business’s initiative to remove bad goods from the market eventually increases brand trust among customers.

3. Recycling

Recycling of products enables companies to implement minimal wastage of resources and also focus on sustainability. Customers are becoming increasingly aware of environmental issues and care if a product is eco-friendly or not. Now, people are even willing to pay more for eco-friendly products.

4. Repackaging

After a returned product is tested and found to be in perfect working condition, it can be repackaged and returned to stock.

5. Repair

Products that are returned due to small faults or damages are repaired or their functional parts are harvested for re-use. Repaired products can be repackaged and sold in secondary markets.

Advantages of Reverse Logistics

Increased online buying leads to higher product returns for which businesses need to establish a framework for reverse logistics. Logistic services in India are coming up with new approaches to implement reverse logistics. The majority of businesses have started to share the cost of reverse logistics with their logistics partners to retain brand support and ensure sustainability.

Safexpress, a market leader in supply chain and logistics, has expertise in effective management of reverse logistics through their various processes and REVLOG system designed to automate the process thus ensuring reverse logistics to be easy and timely. Safexpress have process set in place to handle procedures like returns, documentation and taxation requirements, repacking and redistribution of products effectively.

 Some advantages of reverse logistics are:

· Better profit margins and reduced wastage as the returned product can be recycled and resold.

· Increased customer satisfaction and a better brand image.

· Availability of product data to correct issues that might have caused the return of the product.

· Opportunity to implement environment-friendly sustainable practices.

Conclusion

Reverse logistics in India is becoming more relevant due to the exponential growth of the e-commerce market in the country. With the Indian government giving importance to sustainability and minimization of e-waste, reverse logistics is fast becoming a crucial element in supply chain management.

Source:-https://www.reddit.com/user/safexpress1/comments/mnz4qd/is_reverse_logistics_becoming_the_need_of_the/

Outlook of Third-party logistics companies in India for 2021

After the backlash in the initial quarters of 2020, logistics and supply chain market including 3PL logistics in India is all set to soar with a CAGR growth rate of 11.5 percent during the period of 2020-2025 as per the recent report published by Mordor Intelligence. By the time we entered in 2021, the logistics has not only become an important sector but also has emerged as the backbone of the economy during its reopening and way forward.

Customer-centric global supply chains, thriving growth in the e-commerce, rebound of the economy are all the congenial factors that will drive the growth of warehousing & 3PL logistics in India in the coming times. Besides all these, government initiatives like Atma-Nirbhar Bharat, Ease of Business initiatives, 100% FDI approvals; deeper penetration of technology and GST implementations, will further put the growth of country’s economy as well of this industry on a faster track.

 

The nationwide GST rollout has led the consolidation of the otherwise fragmented logistics industry into more organized and apt industry. It has facilitated the hassle-free interstate movement of goods and has changed the pre-GST trend of ‘setting up separate state-level warehouses/ C&F agents in multiple consumption states by the supply chain with a tax-saving perspective’ to the current scenario where companies are moving towards building/ availing larger consolidated multi-modal logistics parks, freight corridors, and availing express & 3PL logistics services, more than ever, with an operations efficiency perspective, which has led to a huge logistics cost saving.

 

New trends are emerging in warehousing, 3PL & outsourcing space. Multinationals and global supply chains are finding India an attractive location to set up their manufacturing base and expand the customer base, which is a reasonable factor to trigger an increase in need of outsourcing. More companies are planning to use 3PL services in the future as an integrated set of services involving warehousing, transportation, order processing, quality inspection & other value-added services.

 

This has created a feasible ground for third-party logistics companies in India. Safexpress, one of the largest and fastest logistics companies in the nation is a pioneer in 3PL logistics in India and has been continuously catering to the varied needs of the customers through its well-established & continuously strengthened country-wide network that enables round the clock operations & reach to all 31083 pincodes of India.

 

Companies are looking for complete end-to-end logistics solutions from order processing to warehousing, inventory management & finally dispatch of orders to their distribution channels through a time-definite and just-in-time approach. Value -addition through offering services such as packaging, labelling, dedicated fleet management, order consolidation, quality-checks, binning for assembly line ready deliveries & appointment deliveries are gaining traction and growing in popularity in 3PL and supply chain industry.

 

To meet the increased demand, market players have been investing heavily in strengthening and advancing their infrastructure, technological and warehousing capabilities. Safexpress, with its existing 42 3PL locations & further expanding capabilities ensures its proactive readiness to cater the futuristic & ever-changing needs of its customers by offering flexibility to expand or customize its operations or add space in newer locations as per the customers’ needs & providing door deliveries to any pincode across the country. 

Well-equipped to overcome the challenges/ changes while operating in such dynamic industry by conducting proper proactive planning, research & analytics, Safexpress has created a strong, tech-enabled, real-time data capturing capabilities to facilitate time-sensitive, hassle-free & safe warehousing and inter-modal express distribution for its customer base spread across 8 different industry verticals.

 

Agile supply chains, dedicated freight corridors, in-city logistics parks, technology advancements and cloud integration are key enablers that are expected to bring scaled efficiencies to the operations in 3PL space. In such dynamic times, organizations need to accept the new normal, take the learnings from the most disruptive year 2020 and be ready to adapt to the changes that emerge as the industry evolves. Adaptability is the key that will decide the further course of the industry in the coming year.