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Over the last few decades accelera-

ting environmental concern which,in some countries, has alre a d yresulted in legislation, and financialinterests in the re-use of products,p a rts or materials, have allcontributed to reverse logisticsrecent popularity. In a broad sense,reverse logistics stands for all

operations related to the re-use ofp roducts and materials. Reverselogistic activities include collec-tion, disassembly and processing of

used products, product part s ,and/or materials, in order to ensurea new use or an environmentally

friendly recovery. From a scientificpoint of view, reverse logisticsbringsnew elements in collec-t i o n / d i s t r i b u t i o n m a n a g e m e n t ,production planning/rem anu fa ct u-ring, and inventory contro l .Besides, there are interesting

relations with business economics,e n v i ronmental management andinformation technology.

In this paper, we focus ourattention on the relation betweenreverse logistics activities andi n f ormation technology with the

objective to examine and evaluateexisting applications ofE-commercein this field. At large, E-commerceis defined as sharing businessinformation, maintaining businessrelationships, operating businessnegotiations, settling and executing

agreements by means of telecom-munication networks, often the

I n t e rnet, in order to achievebusiness transactions [adaptedfrom EITO99 and Zwass96]. In light

of the reverse logistics context,

E-commerce is examined in terms,trading of used products and parts,including marketing, purc h a s i n g ,sales and post sales. Also, weexamine systems that can facilitatedata collection for used products atthe collection stage and IT applica-tions to support remanufacturing

and re-distribution activities. It isworth mentioning that although bydefinition E-commerce is inclusivefor all electronic networks, the

focus of our study will be onInternet-based E-commerce for twomain reasons. First, the penetration

of Internet-based E-commerc ei n c reases drastically, while asignificant portion of EDI usersintends to switch over to Internet-based applications [EITO99]. Inaddition, many of the actorsinvolved in reverse logistics

activities may not be able to haveaccess to an EDI infrastru c t u re .

Within this context, there are veryfew references of E-commerce forreverse logistics activities, except[Lee 1997] who presents a specificapplication for the electronic auc-

tioning of used Japanese cars.Moreover, many researchers exami-ned various aspects of electronicmarketplaces [Bakos 1997, Beam1999, Bichler 1999, Dutta 1998,Gebauer 1995, Klein 1997] inwhich used products are sold along

with new ones, without explicitlyconsidering the reverse logistics

perspective. Thus, it is interestingto identify what kind of electronicmarkets are related to reverse

E-commerce for reverse log istics is an a rea o f w eb a pplications tha t ha s

bee n a ctive a nd prog ressing a gg ressively, especially in th e US, thoug h it

ha s not bee n explicitly recognised unt il now . It ha s given reverse log istics

in genera l and especia lly reman ufa cturing of pa rts and re-use of surplus

go od s an impo rta nt stimulus. How ever, existing E-commerce mo dels are

rather restricted and represent simply the migration of conventionally

practices over the Web.

An Exploratory Studyon Electronic Commerce

for Reverse Logistics

10Supply Chain Forum An International Journal N1 - 2000 www .supplychain-forum.com

A. I. Kokkinaki, R. DekkerEconom etric Institute,

Erasm us U niversity Rotterdam , The

N etherlands

J. van NunenRotterdam School of M anagem ent,

Erasm us U niversity Rotterdam ,

The Netherlands

C. Pappis

University of Piraeus, G reece

Acknowledgements

The research presented in thi s paper

has been supported by the European

Comm ission as part of the TMR

networ k REVLOG (EBR 4061 PL 97-

650) . This network investigates

Reverse Logistics i ssues and is a

co-operati on of researchers from

Erasmus University Rotterdam ( NL),

Eindoven University of Technology

(NL), INSEAD (F), Univer sity of

Piraeus (GR) , Uni versity ofMagdeburg (D) and Ari stoteles

University of Thessaloniki (GR).


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logistic activities and how one can

assess their risks and benefits. Weare also interested to examine the

relationship between E-commerce

and the economic aspects of

markets. For example, E-commercepotentials have been very carefully

examined with respect to certain

markets, which traditionally have

not been functioning in a very effi-

cient way through the traditionaldistribution channels [Wrigley

1997, Klein 1997]. Could, in fact,

E-commerce create a homoge-

neous, electronic market for used

products and parts open to all

interested parties? And if so, what

would be the critical factors for

the successful implementation of

such an electronic marketplace? Inview of such developments and

potentials, it is also interesting

to examine how existing Web

applications and other IT technolo-

gy can promote other reverse

logistics activities and identify

what (if any) E-commerce promi-

sing, yet under-deployed potentialexists. For example, could Web

applications be used to decrease

some of the uncertainty encounte-

red in reverse logistic activities

in some cases? Are there some otherdevelopments towards this direc-

tion and how do they compare?

In our study a series of relevant

sites have been selected and

examined based on specific criteria

with the aim to identify how they

function and how efficient they are.

Based on this, an evaluation of the

examined case studies is carried

out and some directions for future

research and development haveemerged. These are the main

directions of this paper, which isstructured as follows. In Section 2,

we review reverse logistics

activities and their relation to

Information Technology. First, we

identify important aspects that

have not yet been addressed

adequately from the InformationTechnology point of view. Then, we

proceed to examine how Internet

technologies can support some

aspects of reverse logistics,

focusing on those, which although

not directly related to a businesstransaction, are still very important

for an efficient operation of

a reverse logistics network.

In Section 3, we examine three mainE-commerce models that facilitatebusiness transactions for reverse

logistics, we assess them and give anumber of illustrative examples. An

overall view, some directions forfuture research and development,as well as some speculations about

future deployment of E-commercewith respect to reverse logistics aresummarized in Section 4.

REVERSE LOGISTICS ACTIVI TIESAN D SUPPORTING IT SYSTEM S

The main objective of this sectionis to describe what the mainreverse logistics activities are andhow Information Technologysupports and facilitates theseactivities. The description is mainlytaken from several overviews onreverse logistics [Stock 1998,Fleischmann 1997, 1999 and

Thierry 1997].

Descript ion of ReverseLogistics and open issues

Figure 1 presents a graphical repre-sentation of the activities within aproduct recovery chain together

with traditional supply chain activi-ties. The recurrent reverse logisticsactivities include collection, inspec-tion/separation, re-use, remanufac-turing, recycling, re-distributionand disposal.

In Figure 1, the main concept is that

products are brought to the market

through some conventional supply

chain. The majority of products is

used in their original functionality:

i.e. a company buys a state of theart computer for their virtual

reality project. After a while, the

product is not useful to the original

user. In our example, the industry

standards have evolved and that

computer can no longer support

them. Frequently, the product is

traded in a marked down price

once or several times. In our figure,

this is denoted by the loop between

original use and trade. It is worth

to point out that through the

repetitive changes of ownership,

the product is still used in

its original functionality. In our

example, the computer might be

bought for personal use or for

entertainment, before it actually

reaches the end-of-use return flow.

The main idea for reverse logistics

is to promote and support alterna-

tive uses for the product. In our

example, the computers keyboard

could be directly re-used, its

motherboard may be remanufactu-

red in an electronic toy, whereas

other parts (casing) could berecycled.

11Supply Chain Forum An International Journal N1 - 2000 www.supplychain-forum.com

Original Supply ChainSupply Production wastelby-products

Commercial returns

End-of-usereturns

End-of-use returns

Disposal

Remanufacturing

Manufacturing

Distribution

Trade

OriginalUse

OtherUse

Selection

Collection

Reverse Logistics

Reuse

Redistribution

Recycling

Figure 1 - Product Flow in Supplyand Recovery Chain


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Inany event, with new or old func-tionality the product (or parts of it)enters the market again whereit may also go through severaltrading cycles. This concept isdenoted by the closed loop

between other use and trade inFigure 1. Certainly, at some futurepoint in time, the product will reachagain the end-of-use return in thereverse logistics network.

Supply, manufacturing, distributionand their cascading flows representthe traditional supply chain.From the reverse perspective, theflows for production waste andc o m m e rcial re t u rns are veryimportant, because these two com-bined with the end-of-use return

flow are all input flows in therecovery chain. Production wasteincludes the remains of rawmaterials / intermediates that islost in the production, i.e. a part ofsteel sheet that is too small to beused in the manufacturing of aproduct, and the side products thatcome free during production. Acommercial return would be anyunsold product that a supplier hasagreed to take back from the retailc u s t o m e r. Wa rranty re t u rns offailed products were not explicitly

mentioned in the picture, butshould be added to the commercialreturn stream if the products canno longer be repaired. The sameholds for all perishable productswhich can no longer be sold. Anend-of-use return, as explained inour example, is either the turn-in ofa product to the seller/OEM, becau-se its use has been terminated andthe seller is forced to take it back,or the collection of the product bya waste collector.

The first stage in the reverselogistic process is collection, thatis, all those activities that arenecessary for reclaiming returnedproducts, surplus or by-productsand transporting them to a place,where they will be subjected tof u rther examination and pro c e s-sing. Locating such products,p u rchasing, transporting themand storing them at a collectionpoint, are all activities related tocollection.

A major issue in collection is thee n c o u n t e red high uncert a i n t yregarding the locations from where

used products need to be collected,their quantity and timing.These pose severe difficulties inplaning and controlling collectionp rocesses. Furt h e rm o re, theseuncertainty factors are detrimental

to the integration of forward andreverse distribution networks,which is a very important issue ifwe consider that the additionaltransportation induced by returnflows is a negative element in theoverall ecological assessment ofindustrial re-use activities.

Another major issue for productsentering the reverse logistic chainis that of their quality. This issue iscentral at the stage of selection,w h e re a decision must be

reached as to whether a product(or parts of it) will be re -used, remanufactured, recycled ordisposed. Physical inspection isne ce s s ary ford e te rmining furthe rp rocessing for most commerc i a lp roducts. The alternative ofremote monitoring and contro l ,that are currently availablefor certain products (such ascomputing equipment and electro-nics) have not yet been employedto improve the reverse logisticsoperations.

Remanufacturing is a series ofsteps necessary to transform a partor product that has been used intoone that is usable again. Sometypical activities in re m anu fac tu-ring include cleaning, disassembly,replacement and re - a s s e m b l y.H o w e v e r, remanufacturing is sop roduct dependent that it canbarely be characterized by typicalactivities. For example, restorationfor a piece of old furniture mayre q u i re artistic skill , whereas

remanufacturing of a piece of heavyequipment re q u i res advancedindustrial infrastructure.

For remanufacturing an unresolvedissue is centered on decisionmaking for dismantling or dis-assembling a product. In general,dismantling everything up front is alabor-intensive task, while on theother end, on-demand dismantlingrequires extensive storage capaci-t y, has uncertain yields andvariable throughput times. For

many companies remanufacturingis a very sensitive issue. Re-proces-sing is so product specific that if a

third party is involved at this stage,in-depth information about aproduct can be easily gathered. Inthis respect this process is verysimilar to reverse engineering.

Thus, it is possible to pro v i d e

g rounds to product pirating,namely, to develop a new productbased on the technical specifica-tions derived from re-manufacturedproducts.

Re-use refers to cases wherere t u rned products have such agood quality that they can be re-used almost immediately in thesame or an alternative market. Thishappens for re-usable bottles,containers and most leased orrented equipment. It may also

happen for surplus goods, e.g.spare parts which are left over afterdiscarding the original equipment.

F i n a l l y, re-distribution refers tothe logistics activities required tointroduce a product into a market-place and transfer it to thec ust ome r. Obviously, this entailsstorage, sales and transportation.M o re o v e r, efficient marketing ofre-usable products re q u i res

protocols that support clear andconcise communication between

interested parties and mechanismsto facilitate matching offers withrequests.

Information Technology for

Rever se Logistics

Based on Figure 1, one can observethat information flows betweenbusiness partners are complemen-ta ry to the actual product flowt h rough supply and reversenetworks. This observation could

lead to the suggestion that informa-tion technology systems forreverse logistics can be prototypedbased on the systems developedfor the traditional supply chain.However, there is a fundamentald i ff e rence between forw a rd andreverse logistics, namely reve rs elogistics is in many situationsan exception-driven process. Inaddition, data for the itemsentering the re c o v ery chain are

often of poor quality. Thus, ad i ff e rent overall perspective is

re q u i red for developing re v e r s elogistics IT systems, as it wasnoted in Rogers 1998. However, it



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is important to see what the infor-mation dependencies betweenforward and reverse chains areand how IT systems can givesupport. Summarized, in order tohandle reverse logistics efficiently,accurate and sufficient informationis required in addition to informa-tion systems that satisfy specificreverse logistics requirements.

Therefore, we examine three inter-related issues in the followingsubsections. First, it is importantto examine technologies thatpermit the collection of quality dataregarding a product entering thereverse logistics network. Secondly,it is interesting to address the issue

of interaction and informationexchange between forward andreverse logistics systems. Finally,some emerging Web applications,although not directly applicable atpresent, but which can have greatpotentials for reverse logisticssystems will be indicated as subjectfor future research.

Data Collection on ItemsEntering t he Reverse LogisticsChain

In general it is important to knowwhat product will be returned atwhich point in time at which place,in which conditions and underwhat grounds. More specifically,for commercial returns one shouldknow the as-perfect condition ofa product or part and how thereturned product measures to that.Also, for certain products that havehigh value and short life-cycle, it isvery important to examine whethera product returned to the point of

sale (POS) meets the allowed timeframe requirements. Finally, anaccurate explanation of the reasonwhy this particular product entersthe reverse logistics network canfacilitate the selection/inspectionphase.

Conventionally, product relatedinformation is recorded in paper-based catalogs, which presentcertain constraints: they areneither easily retrieved, frequentlyupdated nor can they be searched

in a speedy way. An alternativewill be the Electronic ProductCatalogues that can offer amultimedia representation of

product information as well asretrieval, classification servicesand instructions for handling upon a return. Another alternativewill be for that information to beembedded in the product. In fact,technologies such as two-dimensio-nal bar codes and radio frequencyidentification systems may be usedto support this feature. Two-dimen-sional bar coding allows the user toembed much more information in abar code than one-dimensionalsystems such as UPC. It supportsthe registration not only of a codebut also a description and othertextual data of significant capacity.Similar in concept, RadioFrequency Identification (RFID)

uses small, very low powered radiotransmitter that is installed in eachproduct. This tag can have somememory capacity for data storagebut it also broadcasts a signal in10M combinations, that is, it ispractically unique. The battery isstrong enough to send out a signalfor years and the signal is strongenough to be picked up byreceivers in a warehouse.

Information about end-of-use ret-urns can be improved by keeping

track of the installed base. Leasingforces the manufacturer to keepdetailed information about thestate of products. Hence followingthe product after its sale alsoprovides marketing opportunitiesto influence the return of theproducts.

The Interactivity Issue be tw eenForw ard a nd Reverse LogisticsIT systems

The need for co-ordination among

processes between forward andreverse logistics system alsoimposes a requirement for interac-tivity between the supporting

IT systems. Business processesbetween trading partners inthe forward supply chain havebeen supported by legacy EDIsystems and Value-Added Networks(VAN) for electronic transactionsand network configuration, respec-

tively. This relationship, oftendescribed as business-to-business

E-commerce and networkinginfrastructure, is also known asExtranet.

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)allows trading partners to exchan-ge information electronically in avery compact, concise and preciseway and it provides different tran-saction sets for various typesof business activities. The "180

transaction set" is, in principle, thetransaction set that supports someaspects of reverse logistics.

However, in practice, it is seldomused. [Rogers 1998] contains a verydetailed presentation on this topic.EDI applications are based on

structured protocols, pre-establi-shed arrangements and bilateralinformation exchange; thus, atransaction supporting software


E-CommerceApplications

Reserve Logistics Tasks

Marketing

Purchasing

Sales

Post Sales/

Service

Advertisement of available used products,

parts or material.Notification of used products, parts ormaterial, currently sought

Search for suppliers/ customers

Making purchasing commitments

Receive information of expected delivery

Respond to request for sought usedproducts, parts or materials

Price setting (i.e. fixed, negotiations,auction)

Order processing

Tracking and tracing orders

Customer invoicing, collection andpayment

Product tracking

Customer support

Customer/ product monitoring

Table 1 - E-Commerce relatio n t o Reverse Logistics


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proves necessary. Conventional EDIhas been criticized for being expen-sive in terms of initial investmenton infrastructure, software andtraining. Furthermore, becauseof its structure, this arrang-ement establishes and supportscontinuous relationships betweenknown trading partners, thuscreating a closed-club kind ofelectronic marketplace.

Addressing these technical impedi-ments, the emerging standardXML/EDI provides the means forintegrating EDI applications withthe Web. Benefits resulting fromthis arrangement include lowercosts, easier introduction of newtrading partners and increasingcommercial activity. From a reverselogistics viewpoint, there is theadded benefit that XML/EDI can bethe tool for interacting IT systemsspecifically designed for reverselogistics and legacy EDI systemsthat are still in use in the forward

supply chain. Concluding, manydifferent types and platforms ofsystems may co-exist to servedifferent business needs, as shownin Figure 2.

Figure 2 presents three levelsof networking infrastructure.Firewalls may be implemented toprovide secure systems. Accessoriginating from an organizationoutside the protected area canbe denied if it violates securityauthorizations, whereas communi-

cation with trading partners(organizations that are locatedin the same ring) is supportedthrough the networking structure.

Emerging IT Paradigms forReverse Logistics

It is noteworthy that some existingInternet applications, although notdirectly related to reverse logistics,have quite promising potentials forthis area, as well. For example,several Internet-based applicationssupport aspects of mass-customi-zation in the sense that theyprovide interactivity to potential

customers who are interested inpurchasing products that areconfigured on the basis of theirown specifications (i.e. buying acomputer from www.dell.com).From a reverse logistics pointof view, it is worth noticing howeasily accurate information can becollected from an E-commerce

application regarding currentcustomers' needs on specialized,high-value products and theirfuture influence on the reversesupply chain; albeit privacy protec-ting should also be secured.

Moreover, there is a class ofexisting Internet-based applica-tions (i.e. www.firefly.com) thatcapture data on their members'behavior to classify their clienteleinto groups of customers withsimilar preferences. Upon an eventof interest (i.e. purchase of certainproducts by any member of agroup), the relevant data may alsobe used to promote the same itemsto the rest of the group with

an expected high degree of accep-tance. From a reverse logisticsperspective, such mechanismsenable interested parties to captureaccurate information on differentfragments of the market and identifypossible trends or price changes.

E-COM M ERCE AN D REVERSELOGISTICS

The general aspects of E-commercefor Reverse Logistics are summari-sed in Table 1, but not all of theseare equally represented.

So far, we have identified threeprominent e-commerce models forthe support of reverse logisticsactivities. At present, the mostpopular model for E-commerce forreverse logistics is ElectronicMarketplaces, which are used for


OtherUse

OriginalUse

Reuse

Remanufacturing

Recycling

Disposal

Selection

Electronic Marketplaces

Supply of used parts

Complete RL solutions B

A

Collection

A

B

Returns

Supply

Redistribution

Trade

Figure 3 E-commerce modelsfor reverse logistics

Figure 2 - IT systems for forward and reverse logistics


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both new and used products. Then,there are sites that use the Web tooffer used parts or remanufacturedequipment. Finally, there is alsoa Web based paradigm that incor-porates collection, selection, re-use

and redistribution. These E-com-m e rce models are presented inFigure 3, which relates closely to Figure

1, but it concentrates on the reverse

logistics part, for simplicity reasons.

Electronic M arketplaces

A common feature of electro n icmarketplaces is the fact that theyare product-focused. Various usedproducts are for sale in these sitesand potential customers have achance to get relevant informationon them, declare their interest andpossibly buy them. The conceptand the design of an electronicmarketplace may vary gre a t l ydepending on a number of factors.We have examined sites based ongeographical location of theirservers, sectors represented in thesite, access rights, price determi-ning mechanisms, logistics aspects,and guarantees for customersatisfaction.

Geographical location of the WWW

server and its target market variesbut they have a high density overUSA sites, as expected. AlthoughUS-based electronic marketplaces(like www.ebay.com and www.onsa-le.com) have significant visibilityand coverage, they do not yetappear to be worldwide oriented;r a t h e r, they concentrate withinthe north American market dueto their demographics or to amanagerial decision to simplifyingtheir logistics operations. In EU,e l e c t ronic marketplaces may be

even more localized (www.partiku-lier.nl) having to overcome cultural,logistic, linguistic and monetarybarriers between different memberstates of the EU. In view ofthese, www.qxl.com offers differentcontents in its site for UK, France,Netherlands, Germany and Italyresidents.

A wide variety of products thathave entered the reverse logisticschain are traded, but some sectorslike computer, electronics and

hi-tech equipment are particularlyp opula r. Nonetheless, some elec-tronic marketplaces are vertically

s t ru c t u red, that is, they arededicated to a specific product likeused cars (AUCNET) [Lee 1997]or used industrial equipment(w w w. b e rg e r a t - m o n n o y e u r- t p . f r) .F u rt h e r, there is a significant

number of on-line marketplacesre p resenting all three types offlows entering the reverse logisticschain, namely production waste(w ww.m eta lsi t e.c o m), commerc i a lreturns (www. qxl.com) and end-of-use products (www.ebay. com).

There are some trading communi-ties open only to partners whohave established relations throughconventional interaction or wherenew members are introduced aftersome member's recommendation.

H o w e v e r, for most electronicauctions, access is open toall buyers, whereas sellers haveto register and pay fees. Aprice setting mechanism can beavailable online like in the case ofe l e c t ronic auctions(w w w. o n s a l e .com, www.qxl.com) or be subjectto interpersonal communicationt h rough conven-tional means(w w w. p a rt i c u l i e r. n l, w w w. c l a s s i-fieds2000.com).

Logistics aspects of electronic

marketplaces cover a great varietyof services including inventorymanagement, virtual warehousing,t r a n s p o rtation, scheduling androuting, location identification, setup and operational specifications.

To simplify the logistics operationsof the electronic marketplace,subcontracting third parties to dosome or all of the described logisticfunctions is a common tactic inmany electronic marketplaces

To address customer satisfaction, a

regulatory infrastructure or legisla-tion may apply. For example, theAucNet system [Lee 1997] providesa standardized rating system for thequality of items featured in thismarketplace. Thrusted ThirdP a rties (TTPs) play import a n ti n t e rmediate roles in case ofconflict between buyer and seller(e.g. if the goods delivered do notmeet the specifications). Otherpolicies for customer satisfactioninclude posting the seller's physicala d d ress, insurance coverage for

damaged goods, guarantee ofretu rns in case of unsatisfactoryitems etc.

E-commerce model forthe supply of used or

remanufactured parts orequipment

The main difference between sitesfor promotion of remanufacturedparts or equipment and those fornewly produced goods seems to

lie in the fact that the first arecustomer driven whereas thelatter are normally supplier driven.In the first case a potential customep rovides details for the itemsin request and the supplierperforms a search and provides theprocurement details. Based on thisorientation, two main characteris-tics emerge for this model. First,

E - c o m m e rce for supply of usedparts is region bounded, that is,suppliers usually serve a range ofparts or equipment over a more orless defined geographical region.As a case in point, Sears(www3.sears.com) covers only theUS territory.

Identification of the part in requestis a central issue to the success ofthis business process and it impliesthat both interesting partiesmanage to get in contact with eachother and then use a common,unique and unambiguous frame-work to describe requestedp roducts or parts. Nowadays,search engines on the Web maybe used to locate potentialsuppliers (w w w. f i n d - a - p a rt . c o m) ,while catalogues of spare part so ffer a unique coding system.Identification of a part canbe enhanced through oral commu-nication or through the use ofweb-accessible search engines that

are based on some prominent fea-tures of the part (brand, descrip-tion, code etc). However, the websites for supply of remanufacturedparts or equipment are mostly usedfor information dissemination andas such, they only address themarketing aspect of electroniccommerce.

It is also interesting to note thatdemand driven dis-assembly may

be possible, if a requested partis not directly available, but rather,

it is included as a subassemblyin a unit. Demand driven dis-assem-bly re q u i res a sufficiently large

15Supply Chain Forum An International Journal N1 - 200 0 www .supplychain-forum.com


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i n v e n t o ry of used products tosatisfy demand and this is oftenperceived as costly.

A special case of remanufacturing

refers to preventive or re a c t i v e

maintenance for heavy industrial

equipment, which may operate

in geographically remote places

and under very stressful condi-

tions. Remanufacturing industrial

equipment is often a closed loop

process, in the sense that, users

give in a piece of their equipment

and some time later they get it back

re - m a n u f a c t u red. Severe time

constraints and quality guarantees

a re important factors for

remanufacturing.

U rgency is a determining factor,

when somebody tries to purchase

a part. In this respect, swift

completion of the required process

and logistics are very important

factors for customer satisfaction in

this trade. E-commerce thus plays

an important role in stimulating

re-use and remanufacturing of parts

or products.

E-comm erce for complet e

reverse logistics solutions

This model was rarely encountered

in our study. We believe this is due

to the fact that this model does not

view E-commerce as a migration of

existing practices and serv i c e s

over a new infrastru c t u re, but

rather as a new tool to restructure

a business activity and offer new

s e rvices. E-commerce complete

solutions for reverse logistics run

a c ross the reverse logistics

network in a particular industry/sector (i . e . p h a rmaceuticals for

w w w. re t u rn l o g i s t i c s . c o m) .

T h rough this model, customers

have two options. First, they can

describe their returns, request a

quote and upon agreement on the

price, sell their products. Or, they

may request a quote for an order

they plan to place.

It is interesting to note that re-use

of the re t u rns (which is the

current practice in this model) isless demanding than supporting

remanufacturing, for example. An

E - co mm erce model for complete

reverse logistics solutions that

could offer a combination of all

reverse logistics activities could be

a niche market by itself.

CONCLUSIVE REM ARKS

E-commerce for reverse logistics is

an area of web applications that

has been active and progressing

aggressively, especially in the US,

though it has not been explicitly

recognised until now. It has given

reverse logistics in general and

especially remanufacturing of parts

and re-use of surplus goods an

important stimulus. However, exis-

ting E-commerce models are rather

restricted and represent simply the

migration of conventionally prac-

tices over the Web. Therefore, we

expect further development in this

area and we believe there are many

interesting research issues in this

respect.

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