Returns Management: Where are you on the Maturity Curve?

Spinnaker Proprietary & Confidential 2015

All Rights Reserved 1

Where are you in the curve?

Returns Management

Maturity Curve



Founded in 2002 as a Supply Chain Planning consulting firm,

Spinnaker Management Group has become a holding company for several brands.

350+ resources

200+ clients globally

Spinnaker Overview

ERP & CRM

Maintenance

HQ Denver

Supply Chain

Services

HQ Houston

Technology

Staffing Services

HQ Pittsburgh



Introductions

Jack DeButts• 25+ years of leadership

experience in Global Operations,

Reverse Supply Chain, and

Medical Device Operations

• Pivotal in driving down the cost

and improving overall recoveries

for the Global Dell Outlet

(GDO) business. Focused on

solutions that deliver:– Value to the customer

– Benefit to the organization

– Team recognition

• 2014 “Pro-to-Know” by Supply

Chain Executives magazine

Paul Adamson• 20+ years of leadership

experience in Repair Operations,

Reverse Supply Chain, Retail

Returns Management, and

Sustainability

• Paul blends creativity and passion

in leading teams and providing

solutions that:– Leverage core differentiators

– Create financial value from returns

– Minimize risk and environmental

impacts

• U.S. National Strategy for

Electronics Stewardship



• Introductions

• Goals for the Session

• RM Maturity Curve

• Case Study: Dell Retail

• Industry Trends in Returns Management

• Keys to Success in Returns Management

• Q&A

Agenda



• Define the Maturity Curve

• Benchmark: Where are you on the

Maturity Curve?

• Understand what makes Returns

Management Pros and All-Stars

• Learn about available tools and

technology to improve Returns

Management

Goals for the session



• Define what ‘great’ looks like

• Increase visibility of current

efforts

• Justify expenditures: head

count, technology, tools

• Manage expectations

• Learn from industry

pioneers

• Develop professional goals

Why do we need a maturity curve?

Most companies don’t know where they stand relative to

industry peers or compared with other industries.



RM Maturity Curve

High

Low

Rooki

e

A

AA

AAA

Professiona

l

All

Star

• Product triaged

prior to

receipt/DIF

• Technology

interface with

business

• Organization led at

VP level

• Robust metrics

• Timely Customer

crediting, clear

customer centric

returns policy

• Dedicated

remarketing team

Returns Management Attributes

Pro

cess

Te

chn

olo

gy

Org

aniz

atio

n M

etri

cs

Bu

sin

ess

Polic

y

• Organization led

at Director level

• Incoming/

outgoing/aging/In

v/ WIP metrics

• Sales to

employees and

resellers

• Lean process

layout

• Organization

led at Sr.

Manager level

• Disposition at

receipt

• Organization

led at

Supervisor level

• Defined Metrics

• Customer

crediting at

receipt

• Credit at

receipt

• Project lead

managing

returns

• Published

returns policy

• No identified

owner

• Marginal metrics

• Customer

crediting at

receipt

• No RM Tech



• People

– Who Owns Returns?

• Policies

– Returns Management Strategy

– Insource or Outsource

– Liquidate, Resell, Reutilize

– Sustainability and Green Disposal

• Process

– Ease of Customer Crediting

– Lean Processing Lines

• Technology

– Visibility to ALL returns (Incoming/WIP/Inventory/Outbound)

– Technology Connects (Ops/Finance/Inventory/Sales)

• Metrics

– Define the Key Metrics and KPIs

Criteria for the Maturity Curve



Background

• In 2006, Dell entered the retail arena to much

hype and excitement. I was the Production

Control Manager at the Americas Return

Center in Austin.

• Day One, I was not involved in the contractual

T’s & C’s of the retail arrangements.

Case Study: Dell Goes Retail

Challenges

• Big Chief Tablet and Crayons

– Technology Challenges

– Date & Percentage Caps

• Moving from US to Global support

Getting Involved

• Wal-Mart was the first retail partner. The first trailer of Wal-Mart returns arrived and no process was in place.

• No internal champion, so I became the champion.

• The starting point was to understand the contractual T’s & C’s.



Mature Company: DELL

Proactive TechnologyMeet &

MeasureCrediting

Market

Knowledge

• Save the

sale

• Disposition

prior to

receipt

• Direct Ties– Operations

– Finance

– ARB

– Sales

• Product

Refurbishment

• Weekly

operations

meeting

• Robust

metrics

– WIP /

Inventory

Control

• Credit at

Retrieval

• Credit

Upon

Receipt

• Secondary

market

controls

• Work with

new sales

• Brokers /

Auctions /

Tear-Down

& Parts



Industry Trends in Returns MGMT

There is a gap of

200k US Supply

Chain roles due

to a lack of

qualified talent.

Less than 20 of the

Fortune 500

companies employ VP

level Reverse

Logistics / Returns

Management experts

Price erosion

Improvement of service quality

Importance of social media

Changing customer behavior

Rising logistics costs

Returns avoidance

Retailer-OEM partnering

Improvement of customer satisfaction

Thoughts on Returns Management

7.26%

8.70%8.04% 8.12% 8.29%

8.77% 8.60%

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

RETAIL RETURNS

(% OF SALES)



Returns Management Strategy

Executive Champion

Returns Business

Planning

Reverse Supply Chain

ExecutionOrder Management

Financial Management Inventory Control

Returns Order

Management

Keys to Success in Returns Management



• Benchmark your company against the Returns Management

Maturity Curve

• Know the functional and strategic areas to address to move along

the Returns Management Maturity Curve

• Acknowledge and recognize your key competencies

– Missing skills must be supported through partnering

• The higher the leadership owning returns management, the more

effective the returns management program and the better the

program is supported

• Spinnaker can help you define and implement an effective Returns

Management program

Key Takeaways



• Submit topics for future webinars

• Request a Returns Management assessment

• Learn more about the Returns Management Leadership Exchange

on LinkedIn

• Today’s information will be available to members of our LinkedIn

Group

Last Thoughts



Thank You!

Paul Adamson

Director,

Business Development & Marketing

512.731.5957

[email protected]

Jack DeButts

Director

512.592.9416

[email protected]

Education

Returns Management: Where are you on the Maturity Curve?