Reverse supply chain

RLEC Projects - Chicago, IL Consumer electronics manufacturers survey (combined)

A. Survey The following questions have been asked of the participants: 1. What are your company's top five reasons for accepting product returns? 2. What are your company's top five reasons for disputing or denying chargebacks to your customers (retailers or distributors)? 3. What are your company's return rates (preferably calculated as a percentage of units sold) for the electric or electronic products that you are manufacturing? 4. What kind of information could your customers (retailers or distributors) supply about product returns and/or chargebacks that would be helpful to your company? 5. What are some of your company's product disposition practices (such as repair, recycle, throw away, etc.)? B. Survey Methodology Below is a breakdown of all of the responses received. Category Completed surveys Not interested/ No answer Number 65 28

Survey response rate was 69.89%. The incorrect phone numbers and companies not contacted or for whom messages have been left were not used to calculate the response rate. C. Survey Results 1. Question 1: Return Reason By categorizing all of the reasons for product returns into 2 groups, defectives versus non-defectives, the survey results revealed that product return reasons in the “defective” category amounted to 45.05%, while the return reasons for the “non-defective” category summed up to 54.95%. The “defective” category includes products that are: • Defective • Damaged in shipment
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RLEC Projects - Chicago, IL Consumer electronics manufacturers survey (combined)

• Taken back for other reasons, such manufacturers standing behind their quality standards, or accepting returns because they are not worth the investigative costs. The “non-defective” category includes products that are taken back because: • The firm would like to create good advertisement for itself and maintain its reputation along with customer loyalty • The firm has