Smart Fossil-Free Returns

Returns have long been considered a necessary evil in e-commerce. Return levels today have led to that many retailers are hit hard financially, which has led companies trying to limit the amount of returns but also reviewing the effectiveness of the return process. Part of this work is to digitize the return process and get a better flow and cost control. At the same time, it is discussed how we can transform today's linear economy into circular economy where resources are re-used or shared. We have two similar return flows where we want to limit today's returns, but at the same time build systems to increase the circular return flow. In one flow, it is mostly an internal, company, cost/profitability focus, while in the other, the environment, sustainability and the transition are in focus. This project tries to understand how we can do both and both improve profitability but not at the expense of the environment.

The project intends to understand more about the underlying factors and the main reasons why a retailer decides to implement a digital return system. Based on this understanding, the goal is to describe a roadmap, how these lessons learned about the implementation and its effects on one's own business can be used to take the next step, namely assisting and accelerating a transition to a transport-efficient society by, on the one hand, a smart way to control today's returns but also find the way forward to create tomorrow's smart fossil-free, circular economy, return flows.

Founded by: Triple F - Fossil Free Freight. Triple F is the Swedish Transport Administration's research and innovation initiative