Returns Orchestration

Orchestrate Post-Purchase Experiences

Order Management

The growth of ecommerce and the explosion of product returns have put immense pressure on retailers. It has become an essential business need to improve customer returns and reverse logistics processes, ensuring customer satisfaction while reducing operational costs. Manhattan Active® Order Management provides retailers with a more intelligent, connected, and automated return and exchange process from initiation through reverse logistics, resulting in lower costs, better customer service, and greater brand loyalty.

Simplifying Customer Returns Initiation

Manhattan Active Order Management enables retailers to offer “buy anywhere and return anywhere” services that improve customer convenience. These features enable consistent customer return or exchange initiation through stores, contact centers, and online. Support for box-less and printer-less product returns empowers customers to start through digital self-service or the contact center, select items, choose the nearest store or return location, and receive a QR code to complete the transaction – drastically reducing the required returns time. Shipping labels can automatically be generated and sent to the customer as well. As a result, retailers reduce the administrative burden and costs while enabling customers to initiate and track returns and exchanges easily.

Robust returns validation across channels helps create better customer experiences. Manhattan Active Order Management will automatically validate if a return has already been requested for the same item and quantity in different channels. For example, if a customer creates a return in digital self-service but ultimately goes to a store to return the item, the system will automatically validate if the return is pending, allowing the store to create a new order and automatically cancel the pending return made through the self-service channel. This capability removes the need for manual intervention and significantly improves customer convenience.

Optimizing Returns Routing

Manhattan Active Order Management enables retailers to tailor their reverse logistics strategy by dynamically calculating, categorizing, and determining where each return should go. Return routing optimization determines the best return location, weighing factors like distance, shipping cost, assortment, current stock, selling price, and more. This powerful capability empowers retailers to circumvent cross-border shipping, reduce costs and carbon footprint, optimize inventory placement, increase the sell-through rate of returns, and accelerate the time to complete returns.

Automating Returns Resolution

Manhattan Active Order Management eliminates manual, time-consuming, and error-prone processing with automated returns resolution. Expected return items are automatically compared to actual items received, and variances are managed systematically. Return credits are accurately calculated based on how much the customer originally paid, including taxes, charges, and discounts. As a result, retailers reduce the operational burden, costs, and errors associated with manual returns processing.

Expediting Refunds and Exchanges

With Manhattan Active Order Management’s intelligent returns processing and automation, retailers can drastically reduce the time to process refunds and exchanges, completing them 3 to 5 days earlier. Chargeback functionality mitigates situations where the customer didn’t return the correct item or item quantities, or if the returned item is damaged. The result is a faster, more efficient returns process that satisfies customers, driving elevated brand loyalty – without the risk.

The solution also supports refunds and exchanges issued when the shipping carrier initially scans the return package. This capability ensures consumers receive items as quickly as possible, removing the dependency on carrier lead times and return center processing times. The system’s “carrier scanned” status increases agent and customer visibility into the return life cycle. If items are not received at the expected location, the customer is automatically charged or refunded for the difference.

• Manhattan Active Order Management optimizes the returns process from customer returns initiation through reverse logistics to reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction with a retailer's returns and exchanges process.
• Advanced adaptive algorithms continuously evaluate multiple parameters to arrive at the optimal product return path to get returns into circulation faster, increasing sell-through rates.
• "Buy Anywhere and Return Anywhere" capabilities enable customers to initiate returns online, in stores, and through the contact center with flexible returns methods, including box-less and printer-less returns to return points such as carriers and stores.