Day One

8:30 Continental Breakfast & Registration Continental Breakfast & Registration

9:00 Chairperson’s Opening Remarks Chairperson’s Opening Remarks

9:15 Understanding Today’s Technology Buyer: Preferences, Behaviors And Attitudes Growth in the consumer tech industry is contingent upon a comprehensive understanding of who the consumer is; what resonates with them today and most importantly what resonates with them tomorrow? Armed with this knowledge, we can sell the right products to the right people; and prevent returns before they start. The challenge is consumer preference is a moving target whose speed and direction changes in relation to different products, retailers and even return policies. In this session we’ll take aim at consumer behavior trends in the industry today to gain a deeper understanding of how they shop, what they think, and how that might influence changes in spending over time.

9:55 Panel Session: Improving Consumer Education: Dealing Directly With Your Consumers To Capture Data And Minimize Returns How do you make your consumer smarter? How do you leverage point of sales tools to engage your customers using blogs, Facebook, Twitter, surveys? This panel discussion includes best-practice strategies on: Educating your employees on the specification and functions of the product to ensure that they are able to address the customers concerns prior to the sale Effectively utilizing data pulled from engagement tools throughout your organization Informing the customer of alternative channels to the return via customer support to prevent them from returning the product should a problem arise

10:35 Morning Refreshment & Networking Break Morning Refreshment & Networking Break

11:15 Regulatory Update: Becoming Proactive With Compliance For The Disposal And Recycling Of Returns Lyndall is very active in Canada and globally at Spin Master managing compliance for returns. As many organizations struggle to know exactly how to remain proactive on a continual basis with compliance and returns, even more are unaware of what’s going to have effect in the near-term. You won’t want to miss this session as Lyndall shares: What are the latest updates and regulations in regards to the responsibility and safety of consumer products How you can effectively classify waste and recycling materials

11:55 Panel Session: Effectively Managing Returns For Illegitimate/Stolen Products A growing concern for manufacturers and retailers alike is how to effectively manage illegitimate returns or stolen merchandise. In this session our panelists go beyond just sharing how they minimize the initial threat but also what they implement on the back end to streamline the process as best as possible. Highlights include: How do you effectively develop reasons codes and policy for products that have been stolen? What are typical trends on items that are stolen and how can you best avoid them? What are current strategies for in-store validation and creating the manpower to audit that process? What are methods/tools for effectively training employees to manage and report these circumstances?

12:35 Lunch For All Attendees Lunch For All Attendees

1:35 Optimizing Post-Return Data Knowledge Sharing And Analysis To Better Understand Reasons For Returns Are you struggling to obtain and analyze post-return data? Are you spending too much time determining which key metrics are actionable for follow-up and key to improving your returns process? In this session Michael shares how you can streamline your post-return data management and knowledge by sharing strategies on how you can start effectively: Agreeing to a standard process on classifying returns and reason codes in supplier agreements - Ensuring returns are included in the discussion Creating a timetable for delivering returns reports and follow-up Developing a cross-functional team to analyze and continually track consistency of your product and customer trends

2:15 Optimizing Pre And Post-Sales Strategies: In this session Tim highlights what Sony does to understand all of the customer touch points where they may be able to add value and ultimately improve your service and the cost impact on returns. Strategies highlighted include: Identify ways to reduce returns - How do you reduce the cost impact of those through your recovery process and reverse logistics networks Executing pre-sales strategies to reduce returns - Training sales teams on the benefits of the product, and ensure they fully understand the product Executing post sales to reduce returns

2:55 Inmar Reverse Logistics Site Tour - Invite Only Inmar Reverse Logistics Site Tour - Invite Only

5:00 Wine & Cheese Reception

5:30 Conclusion of Day One