In the first of a planned series of strategic alliances with specialist partners designed to create new and imaginative solutions to customer supply chain problems, Amethyst Group has joined forces with AON Network Services to cut dramatically the cost of returned goods by eliminating ‘no fault found’ returns as part of a comprehensive returns management solution.
This new value-added service is expected to prove especially attractive to major electrical and consumer electronics retailers, for whom ‘no fault found’ returns can account for as much as 50% of all products returned.
AON, a risk management organisation, will provide an intelligent call centre with trained agents skilled in guiding customers through the basic faults and operating procedures of electrical and consumer electronics products. Where this fails to resolve the issue, a network of field-based engineers will be deployed to fix the problem in the customer’s home. As a result, only those products with a major fault will be considered for return to the retailer.
Amethyst will provide outbound retail and on-line logistics management and support, by consolidating distribution of products from multiple suppliers through a single warehouse. It will also manage all returns via its centrally-located distribution centre at Fradley Park. The company’s experienced specialist returns team will inspect and classify each product and determine whether, for example, it should be repaired, reprocessed for stock, returned to the manufacturer under warranty or scrapped.
