Freight Reverse: May Happenings

Welcome to Freight Reverse, a monthly review of RLA activities, RLA member news, and market updates.

Market News

• Going circular: The future of retail returns and reverse logistics by NRF’s Scot Case - To reduce adverse financial and environmental impacts, retail executives are prioritizing ways to reduce those costs and turn them into new opportunities. They are focusing on ways to improve both the returns management process and reverse logistics operations.
• Return rates are rough estimates, and many are unaware of which products are returned, which regions have higher returns, the cost of processing returns, and the frequency of fraud, among other issues writes Sylvia Ng , CEO of ReturnBear. According to Ng, many merchants try to solve their reverse logistics problems when they become obvious, but a lack of visibility often prevents them from being successful at it. Forbes - ?A Rising Challenge In Retail: Addressing The Lack Of Return Visibility
• Loop announced it now supports merchants on Salesforce Commerce Cloud, expanding its footprint beyond Shopify’s ecosystem. This expansion will empower enterprise merchants operating on Salesforce Commerce Cloud with Loop’s returns management solution according to Loop’s press release.
• An interesting read from The Atlantic (subscription required) - Amazon Returns Have Gone to Hell - Discusses complications in Amazon’s returns policy. “For the first time, companies are making return reductions a priority,” said Jacob Feldman, an associate professor of supply chain, operations, and technology at Washington University in St. Louis. What used to be a simple system for consumers is getting more complex.
• Blog post from ReverseLogix’s Gaurav Saran - Returns Management vs Reverse Logistics: Understanding The Difference In a nutshell, reverse logistics involves the return of goods from consumers to the supply chain, while returns management plays a crucial role in ensuring a seamless consumer experience throughout the returns process.
• RLA’s Tony Sciarrotta’s latest Parcel Magazine column – Reverse Logistics: Going Circular - Discusses Rich Bulger’s book, Going Circular
• Auction.io acquired SimpleAuctionSite.com SaaS platform to accelerate growth in sports collectibles and reverse logistics categories
• Red Bull is partnering with Cabka to enhance the sustainability of its ingredient transportation. The introduction of Cabka's specially designed BigBag S5 pallet marks a significant step towards optimizing efficiency and eco-friendliness throughout Red Bull's supply chain.?

Webinars

Join us for a free June Reverse Logistics Webinar: How can reverse logistics make or break sustainable packaging?" Jun 12, 2024, 12-1 pm Eastern Time (UTC - 04:00)

Host: Tony Sciarrotta

Panelists:

Tim Debus, President & CEO at Reusable Packaging Association

Willemijn Peeters, Founding Director at Searious Business

Sponsored by DB Schenker

Register here .

RLA Member Benefit – Job Postings

Looking for a job in reverse logistics? ?Check out job postings from RLA members. Not a RLA member? No worries, you can still create a free log-in to access the postings. https://rla.org/page/job_postings

RLA Member Committees Updates

Upcoming:

• Wireless & Mobility Cmt Mtg Jun 2024 – Remarketing - Presenters: Jordan Sielaff, CEO at Gierd Inc, LLC and Suhail Mehta, Mobility Reverse Logistics & Supply at AT&T. Register here .
• SPW Cmt Mtg Jun 2024 - Advance analytics to drive real-world decision making for service parts – Presenter: Miranda Vasquez, VP, Product Management at OnProcess M. Register here .

Archived:

• Recycling Sustainability Cmt Mtg May 2024 - Achieving Buy-In for Sustainability and Circularity Best Practices May 16, 2024 - Presenter: David Hirschler, Chief Sustainability Officer at ERI. Replay available here .
• European Committee Qtly Mtg May 2024 – Presenter: Paul Webb, Multi-Channel Returns Manager at TESCO. Replay available here.

?2024 19th Annual RLA EMEA Summit - Amsterdam

This day and a half Reverse Logistics event allows attendees to benefit from a variety of non-promotional speakers who are presenting on Reverse Logistics case studies, best practices, and additional educational content. There are ample opportunities to meet and network in between industry presentations and panel discussions with other Reverse Logistics Professionals worldwide that attend this event.

Summit dates/Local times:

Tuesday: June 18, 11:15am - 5:00pm

Wednesday: June 19, 8:00am - 5:00pm

Thursday: June 20, 8:30am - 2:30pm

That’s it for now. Be sure to hit subscribe to ensure you receive it in your inbox. Do you have news to share or an idea for the newsletter? Email me at [email protected] .