Service Operations, Customer Analytics & Reverse Logistics

Course Description

This course examines service operations and returns management in e-commerce and omnichannel environments, with an emphasis on designing customer experiences that are operationally efficient, financially sound, and environmentally responsible. Students study service design and basic queuing concepts to diagnose bottlenecks that drive delays, repeat contacts, and preventable returns. The course also develops policy skills related to order changes, refunds, exchanges, and reverse logistics, focusing on how service and returns policies influence cost-to-serve, service levels, and brand trust. Students apply customer analytics to identify service failure modes using common voice-of-customer sources such as ratings, reviews, NPS, and open-ended feedback. Applied labs use Python to support text analytics for sentiment and topic discovery and to construct cost-to-serve models that compare alternative outcomes such as refund, repair, replacement, and resale. The course culminates in a project that designs a closed-loop returns strategy and supporting network approach that balances customer experience, financial performance, and sustainability targets, communicated in an executive-ready format.

Code

SCM 4350

Credits

3.0

Subject

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Programs That Include This Course

• Bachelor's Bachelor of Science in Logistics and Supply Chain Management with Analytics