According to a study by Boston Consulting, the second-hand market is expected to grow by 15 to 20% over the next 5 years, responding to new consumer trends to make "smart" purchases, to reconcile pleasure with a concern for purchasing power and the environment.

© Romain Demay, Decathlon

In France, it represents 7 billion euros in sales and 86 billion in Europe according to KPMG. Faced with this major phenomenon, more and more retailers, including Fnac Darty, Petit Bateau, Decathlon, and e-tailers, see the circular economy as an opportunity to build loyalty and growth. Faced with complex and specific logistics, retailers and e-tailers must industrialize their return flows in their warehouses, from sorting to storage, in order to accelerate the "second life" of their products. Goods to Person" robotization, like SCALLOG's offer, is essential today in "second hand" logistics to gain in processing speed, quality and traceability, while controlling costs. It is the best technological alternative to limit handling and unnecessary travel and ensure the "proper" integration of "second-hand" products in the inventory!

Goods to Person" robotization at the heart of agile and profitable "second hand" logistics!

Second-hand logistics, made up of a multitude of parts subject to significant fluctuations in demand, requires the massification, rationalization and industrialization of return flows, which are by nature not very standardized and qualified, in order to reduce costs. Indeed, receiving products in bulk, checking them, putting them away and storing them requires a lot of handling, which is a source of time loss and errors. To accelerate the "second life" of products, "Goods to Person" robotization - shelves transported by robots to operators - fully responds by automating processing - sorting, control and storage!

Speed up sorting, control and storage operations

Often received in bulk, products dedicated to second-hand goods, collected in stores or sent by consumers, require multiple handling and operations - unpacking, checking, re-pairing and storing in the "right place. With a Goods to Person solution such as SCALLOG, which is particularly well suited to sorting and reconciling pairs and batches, handling and movement are kept to a minimum. Once the quality control is done by the operator during the picking in bulk, he just has to scan the product, put it on the designated empty slot on the shelf and scan this slot. Re-pairing and forming batches is even easier when the storage is done on shelves. In a single operation, the "second-hand" product is referenced and listed in the WMS, stored in the "right place" and ready to be put back on sale!

Gaining in traceability and productivity

With the "Goods to Person" robotization, all "second-hand" products benefit from "seamless" traceability in the warehouse, eliminating losses and stock errors. In addition to this, productivity is increased, with an 8-fold increase in the rate of restocking and processing of second-hand products compared to manual operations! In addition, the stations dedicated to restocking can be positioned as close as possible to the reception and the stations dedicated to picking as close as possible to the packaging.

This makes way for efficient and agile "second-hand" logistics, with robotized reverse logistics processes, to speed up and make processing more reliable while reducing the time goods are held up, in the face of the hegemony of CtoC platforms! Goods to Person" robotization is now key in the "second hand" logistics of brands, retailers and e-retailers to develop profitable models, benefit from additional turnover and stand out through direct relations with consumers, in an inflationary context and in search of purchasing power!