New research from ReBound Returns and Advanced Supply Chain suggests that many retailers have moved well beyond treating returns as a purely operational headache, yet they are still struggling to turn that activity into lasting commercial gain.
The Circularity Index, based on a survey of 150 senior retail leaders across the UK and Europe, found that 86% of businesses now have some form of circularity approach in place for returns. Resale, refurbishment, repair and recycling are...
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all being used in day-to-day operations, and for 27% of respondents, circularity is already central to returns management. Even so, the study indicates that ambition is still running ahead of execution.
On average, 12% of returned items create no value at all, while only 9% of retailers say they resell more than half of returned products at full price. That points to a widening gap between the industry’s sustainability language and the economics of reverse logistics. ReBound Returns and ASC argue that the real challenge is not whether circularity is being discussed, but whether returned stock is being assessed and routed in a way that protects margin.
The survey also suggests that retailers are aware of the opportunity. About 82% believe as much as half of their returned inventory could yield more value through stronger recommerce strategies, and 62% say they already make regular efforts to recover value from goods that cannot be sold again in their original form. The findings imply that circularity has become a recognised business discipline, but one that is still uneven in practice.
Stuart Greenfield, UK and European sales director at Advanced Supply Chain, said retailers had made progress in embedding circularity into returns processes, but warned that having a framework in place does not automatically mean every item is being used to best effect. He argued that returns should increasingly be viewed as inventory with possible value, rather than simply a cost to be processed through transport, warehousing and administration.
Inge Bujakiewicz-Baars, head of sustainability at ReBound Returns, said regulation is pushing the issue further into core retail operations, with the focus shifting from broad commitments to the practical question of what happens to products once they can no longer be sold as new. She said retailers with clearer systems for assessing, directing and recovering returned goods will be better prepared for those requirements.
That regulatory backdrop matters. The companies pointed to the EU’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation as one of the forces putting greater pressure on retailers to think more systematically about end-of-life product handling. Against that backdrop, returns are no longer just a friction point in customer service. They are becoming part of the wider debate over waste, value recovery and how retailers design more circular supply chains.
Source: Noah Wire Services
