Fresh off Black Friday sales, our CEO Chris Richter sat down with Emily Phillips, XPO Logistics VP of Advanced Solutions to discuss how brands are getting creative this holiday season.

Phillips and Richter kicked the session off by discussing the top three challenges for brands this holiday season:

1. Supply Chain Issues
2. Reverse Logistics: The Wave of Holiday Returns
3. Consumer Demand and Expectations

“Online buying has only accelerated the demand for better support for returns.” Phillips said. “It’s as important how you handle a return as it is how you handle the initial sale.”

“89% of consumers report that if they have a bad return experience will abandon a brand forever," Richter added. “It's very important to get the experience right.”

Richter introduced how industry leaders are reselling ready-to-ship inventory like returned and resale items to solve these problems in addition to gaining a strategic advantage in 2022.

“New furniture lead times are 6-9 months,” Richter said. “Reselling returns is a way to get new revenue without the addition of new raw materials.”

Attendees got answers to some of the top asked questions about recommerce programs:

• How is it possible to keep reverse logistics costs low enough to even consider resale on oversized items?
• How do customers understand the difference between the recommerce program and full-priced items?
• How long does it take for a brand to launch a recommerce program? And what are the first steps?