If retailers and manufacturers don’t have the proper contractual restraints in place to prevent their liquidators — and the liquidators’ resellers — from selling directly to consumers online, they’re setting themselves up for significant sales losses and lower margins.

Returns have taken center stage in the supply chain over the last few years, but it’s clear merchants and carriers still don’t know the best approach to optimizing them. For those managing returns the same way they did pre-pandemic, fixing this process may seem too complex or disruptive

In order to reduce costs and increase customer satisfaction, retailers need to take a more detailed look at why returns happen and what are the options for dealing with them.