Development of a Circular Economy Marketplace for Bespoke Furniture Returns and Cancellations

The client faces difficulties in handling the resale and redistribution of custom-made furniture products after cancellations or returns, especially when production has already commenced. These challenges impact inventory management, profitability, and sustainability initiatives. There's a need to digitize and streamline these processes to enable efficient resale, promote circular economy principles, and maximize product lifecycle management.

A mid-sized online retailer specializing in customized, high-quality home furniture offering bespoke solutions and managing product returns, cancellations, and resale processes.

• Implement a digital platform for auctioning returned or canceled bespoke furniture items to facilitate resale and extension of product life cycle.
• Increase interest in auction activities by at least 25%, fostering higher engagement among employees and external parties.
• Achieve a 50% year-over-year growth in resale sales through the platform.
• Expand the volume of auctioned items to approximately 2,000 within three quarters.
• Enhance profitability and transaction value via optimized resale processes.
• Prepare the system for future expansion into additional sales channels, including B2B markets and auctioning of depreciated equipment.

• A visually appealing, branded platform design reflecting the company's professionalism and values.
• Public access to auction links for external viewers such as employees' friends and family, without login requirements.
• Integration with existing Active Directory for user authentication and access management.
• Auction modules with configurable duration (e.g., 5-day auctions) ensuring fair participation for all employees.
• An employee auction system ensuring equal access opportunities for staff.
• Role-based permissions and access controls to safeguard auction fairness and transparency.
• Flexibility to extend system functionalities, including new distribution channels and additional product grouping options.
• Support for circular economy principles by maximizing reuse and resale of returned items.

• Active Directory for user authentication
• Potential future integrations with additional sales channels and inventory systems

• System must support at least 200 concurrent active users, with scalable architecture for future growth
• Auction durations should be reliably maintained over 5-day periods with real-time updates
• High system availability and uptime to support ongoing auctions
• Secure access controls and data privacy compliance
• Performance optimization for quick loading times and responsiveness

The implementation of the digital resale platform is expected to result in a 25% increase in auction participation interest and a 50% growth in resale sales year-over-year. The system aims to facilitate approximately 2,000 auctioned items within three quarters, thereby significantly improving inventory utilization, profitability, and supporting circular economy principles through sustainable reuse of returned and canceled bespoke furniture.