MIAMI, Oct. 12, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Second-hand
merchandise, once the province of thrift shops and tiny specialty
stores, is rapidly becoming a major factor in today's retail
industry. In a recent poll, 70% of women said they have bought or
are open to buying used clothing. Meanwhile, a herd of major
retailers—among them Nordstrom, Macy's, Eileen Fisher, Walmart, and Patagonia—are either
selling lightly used clothing or making plans to do so.(1) The
used-clothing boom, notes A.J. Hernandez, CEO of SkyPostal, Inc.,
is driven by the liberal returns policies typical of ecommerce,
which now accounts for 16.1% of all U.S. retail sales.(2)
"And it's not just apparel," says Hernandez. "On average, 25% of
all ecommerce purchases are sent back. Along with 56% of all
clothes and shoes, nearly half—48%—of electronics sold online are
returned.(3)"
While companies like Nordstrom and Macy's are reselling their
own returns, many retailers sell returned merchandise not item by
item, but in bulk. This activity has created a whole cottage
industry of resellers who buy returned merchandise and either sell
it directly to consumers or wholesale it to other online retailers.
Companies interested in this market, says Hernandez, should be
aware that it holds varying levels of risk. Wholesale liquidation
companies offer unsold lots from retailers or manufacturers and can
normally verify the authenticity and condition of the merchandise.
Another and generally less expensive source of inventory; however,
is imported goods that, for one reason or another, are not paid for
when their containers arrive in port. Such merchandise may be
damaged and only partly recoverable.(4)
In addition to consumers, retailers, and resellers, the ebb and
flow of returned merchandise plays a role in the life of supply
chain companies like SkyPostal, where reverse logistics is a major
segment of the business.
"We deliver for a major sneaker company in certain countries,
for instance," says Hernandez. "We receive and process their
returns, and we also grade their returns. Merchandise receiving a
grade of A is returned and resold. The rest is destroyed."
This entire overall ecommerce/return/resale mechanism, according
to Hernandez, is increasingly the model for today's global retail
industry. In his own sphere of operation, Latin America, logistics can, he notes, be a
somewhat complex matter. SkyPostal; however, has the experience and
skill to manage it, and is trusted by major retailers and
platforms, such as Rebound Returns—which handles returns for major
European vendors and is the largest returns platform in the
world—to do so.
"This whole structure," says Hernandez, "is built around the
consumer's needs, desires, and expectations, as expressed in their
reviews and ratings; if you have a consumer-unfriendly returns
system, you will have bad reviews and bad ratings." The better the
returns process works, in other words, the better the ratings, a
matter of great concern to giant retail and wholesale resellers,
among others. "For all this to work," he says, "these retailers
have to make it easy to return items and then figure out how to
resell them. My company's role is to make the back-and-forth
process as effortless and invisible as possible."
About SkyPostal:
SkyPostal was created in 2001 to meet the need for improved and
efficient cross-border mail and parcel service from the United States and Europe to all countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Mexico. It is now the largest private mail and
delivery network in Latin America,
serving European postal administrations, major publishers, the
world's largest ecommerce retailers, international shippers, and
financial institutions that require reliable and secure delivery of
their mail and parcels. For more information, please see
http://www.skypostal.com.
1. Freeman, Lisa Lee. "Major
Retailers Now Sell Used Clothes at Low Prices." AARP, 4 Sept. 2020,
aarp.org/money/budgeting-saving/info-2020/big-retailers-now-sell-used-clothes.html.
2. Palmer, Annie. "Coronavirus Pandemic Turbocharges Online Sales,
Which Were up More than 31% in Just Three Months." CNBC,
18 Aug. 2020,
cnbc.com/2020/08/18/e-commerce-sales-grew-more-than-30percent-between-q1-and-q2.html.
3. "Returns Come Back To Haunt eCommerce Amid Pandemic,"
pymnts.com/news/retail/2020/returns-come-back-to-haunt-ecommerce-amid-pandemic/.
4. Duff, Victoria. "Information on
a Salvage & Overstock Merchandise Business." Small Business -
Chron.com, Chron.com, 26 Oct. 2016,
smallbusiness.chron.com/information-salvage-overstock-merchandise-business-81002.html.
SOURCE SkyPostal