Managing thousands of daily returns can be a logistical mountain to climb, even for industry leaders. For Orva, one of Amazon’s largest third-party footwear sellers, scaling their returns operations to match growing demand presented unique challenges.
With a tedious, manual system stretched to its limits, Orva needed a solution that could handle their high returns volume while improving accuracy and efficiency of overall returns management. By partnering with ReturnBear, Orva transformed their approach to eCommerce returns management, with returns automation.
The Challenge: Scaling Returns Operations for 1,000+ Units Daily
Before partnering with ReturnBear, Orva's returns process was far from efficient. Orva relied on manual Google Sheets for inventory tracking and returns management, which may have worked with smaller return volumes, but was no match for the 1000-3000 units received daily.
This approach created significant bottlenecks, including:
- High error rates: Manual spreadsheet updates meant more errors and likelihood of different versions of information. A lack of unique inventory identifiers also led to duplication, inaccuracies, and delays in reconciling returns.
- Warehouse inefficiencies: Scanning and validating returned items for reconciliation and storage was long
- Limited collaboration: The manual system made it difficult for multiple team members to work inside the sheet at the same time.
Add to this the nuances of needing to work with Amazon’s return policy changes and the return process became even more difficult to handle.
“Managing such high returns volume manually was a nightmare,” says Jason Pankowski, Vice President of Operations at Orva. “The system simply wasn’t built for the scale we were operating at.”
The Solution: Automating Returns with ReturnBear
ReturnBear’s parent company, Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan, introduced the team at Orva to ReturnBear to help improve their returns. From the outset, Orva had clear goals:
- Automate returns processes to eliminate inefficiencies.
- Create a centralized system that could handle real-time collaboration.
- Improve accuracy in returns reconciliation to reduce errors.
Through ReturnBear’s platform, Orva transitioned to an automated, multi-user returns system.
Key improvements included:
- Streamlined Operations: Team members can now work simultaneously in the system without interfering with one another. This eliminated inefficiencies from their previous manual process and helped increase trust in data being worked with.
- Enhanced Accuracy: The unique identifier system ReturnBear used for Orva’s returns minimized duplication errors, significantly improving inventory tracking and reconciliation.
- Faster Warehouse Processing: Automating tasks such as scanning and validating returns improved the speed and accuracy of returns handling. With peak return volumes of up to 3000 returns per day, this helped increase scalability.
“The unique identifier system was a game changer,” Pankowski notes. “It’s helped us process returns faster and with fewer errors, saving countless hours in the warehouse.”
ReturnBear - a Game Changer for High-Volume Returns
For a high-volume merchant like Orva, processing thousands of daily returns accurately and efficiently was once a daunting challenge. With ReturnBear, the company has moved beyond outdated manual processes to embrace a streamlined, automated solution that powers its operations at scale.
Ready to take control of your returns process? Contact us to see how we can help you optimize and transform your eCommerce returns.
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