It often requires the development of a transportation mode that is compatible with existing forward logistic system. Disposition can include returning assets into inventory stock or warehouses for storage, returning goods to the original manufacturer for reimbursement, selling goods on a secondary market, recycling assets, or a combination that will yield maximum value for the products in question.

The economic demand for reverse logistics capabilities is driven by two different factors;

• Companies are starting to realise the economic value of sound returns management, and second,
• Legal environmental developments are requiring manufacturers to be fully responsible for products over their entire life cycle.

Online retailing and shortening product life cycles, mainly within the electronics and high technology sector, have seen increased pressure to build strong capabilities in this area, or to outsource the handling of reverse logistics flow.

Organisations currently have many opportunities for improving the way they manage their returns, from improving the process and using more sophisticated software to changing the organisation or outsourcing the entire process.