Ecommerce ops · Production

John Lewis & Partners Gets Products Ready for Resale with Intelligent Automation

The problem

When a customer requests a refund, John Lewis & Partners must quickly decide whether a product can be resold or returned to the warehouse; without an efficient process, the retailer faced stock write-offs and unnecessary handling and transit costs.

Workflow diagram · grounded in source
1
Customer refund request
trigger
“when a customer requests a refund on a product”
2
Resale vs. warehouse routing
routing
“the retailer needs to quickly determine if the product can be resold or if it needs to be returned to the warehouse”
3
Intelligent automation restocking
ai_action
“streamlined its restocking process with intelligent automation preventing stock write-offs and reducing handling and transit costs”
4
Merchandise returned to stores
output
“Perfect merchandise is returned to stores, leading to fewer markdowns on merchandise”
Reported outcome

Intelligent automation streamlined the restocking process, preventing stock write-offs, reducing handling and transit costs, returning perfect merchandise to stores with fewer markdowns, and getting returned goods back on the shelf faster to increase revenue.

Reported metrics
Handling and transit costsreducing handling and transit costs
Revenue from returned goodsincreasing revenue
Merchandise markdownsfewer markdowns on merchandise
Stock write-offspreventing stock write-offs
Reported stack
intelligent automationBlue Prism
Source
https://www.blueprism.com/resources/case-studies/john-lewis-partners-gets-products-ready-for-resale-with-intelligent-automation/
Read source ↗

Frequently asked questions

What did this team achieve with this AI workflow?

Intelligent automation streamlined the restocking process, preventing stock write-offs, reducing handling and transit costs, returning perfect merchandise to stores with fewer markdowns, and getting returned goods bac…

What tools did this team use?

intelligent automation, Blue Prism.

What results were reported?

Handling and transit costs: reducing handling and transit costs; Revenue from returned goods: increasing revenue; Merchandise markdowns: fewer markdowns on merchandise; Stock write-offs: preventing stock write-offs (source-reported, not independently verified).

How is this ecommerce ops AI workflow structured?

Customer refund request → Resale vs. warehouse routing → Intelligent automation restocking → Merchandise returned to stores.