Online retailers are experienced some of the biggest sales they’ll see throughout the calendar year in December. However, if they’re seeking to provide an excellent customer experience, they must also focus their attention beyond the sale into the new year. Equally important in the post holiday season is the system that omnichannel retailers use to process product returns from their customers. Whether the customer ordered too many units, the product did not meet their expectations, or was damaged in transit, businesses must ensure consistency during the post purchase process.

Businesses that offer a hassle-free return experience stand to gain greater brand loyalty from their customers as well. Equally, omnichannel retailers whose business systems support RMA, can streamline customer return process for greater operational efficiency.

What Exactly is RMA?

RMA is an acronym that stands for return materials authorization. RMA was introduced as a standard feature in SAP Business One version 9.3 and had been a feature that was requested by its users for some time. The RMA business process manages customers and vendor product returns. If you have ever returned something for a refund to an online retailer you might have been given an RMA number to include with the return package. In SAP Business One 9.3, the RMA business process is known as ‘Return Request,’ and is the process to manage customer or vendor product returns to your company.

Once a retailer accepts the customer or vendor request for a return, you can issue the RMA number to be include in the shipment container. Upon receipt this number will allow your warehouse to pull up the details of the transaction and streamline the process much more quickly to determine what actions need to be taken with the items (added back to inventory, deposed of, etc.). A useful feature is that you can copy over a ‘Return Request’ from ‘Delivers’ or ‘A/R Invoices’ to save time. The associated processes will differ depending on which of these two scenarios you are faced with.

What Can You Do with The Return Material Agreement (RMA)?

Before the goods are returned, users can create a pre-step of the return document, enter the agreed upon quantities and prices, and the reason for the return. You can also:

• Manage and track the return process
• Create the ‘Return Request/Goods Return Request’ based on the original sales transaction (Delivery or A/R Invoice) or purchasing transaction (Goods Receipt PO or A/P Invoice)
• Specify the ‘Return Reason’ and the ‘Return Action’
• Affect the stock ordered (A/R side) and committed (A/P side) quantities before the goods are returned
• Manually create the ‘Return Request/Goods Return Request’ from a service call
• Standardize process with a ‘Draw Document’ wizard will take users through the processes for better consistency

To learn more about ‘Return Requests’ in SAP Business One, and to access many other useful SAP Business One resources, watch a video demonstration covered in the Vision33 TOTAL Care Weekly Web Chat. The video provides real use cases and a quick walk-through of this useful feature that can enable retailers to provide an extra level of customer service.