Managing Internet Product Returns: A Focus on Effective Service Operations

Abstract

Product returns present one of the biggest operational challenges in the world of Internet retailing due to the sheer volume and cost of processing returns. But returns also represent an often-missed opportunity to manage customer relationships and build customer loyalty to the retailer. Based upon data from a survey of 464 customers of five different Internet retailers, this article explores how firms' returns management systems affect loyalty intentions. We draw upon extant literature in the fields of Internet retailing, service quality, supply chain management, and customer satisfaction/loyalty to develop a model and a set of hypotheses relating ten latent variables in the service returns offering area. Our resulting structural equation model provides evidence of the impact of the returns management system upon customer loyalty intentions. The model also identifies effects on loyalty intentions arising from customers' satisfaction with, and perceptions of, the value of the returns service offered. These findings will help inform managers' choices regarding investment in the returns management system as an element of service quality improvement and a potential means of improved profitability. In addition, this study's empirical exploration and testing of a returns management model in the Internet retailing environment is a contribution to the currently underrepresented body of academic literature linking marketing and supply chain management in the context of end consumers.

Decision Factors for the Adoption and Continued Use of Online Direct Sales Channels among SMEs

“…Recent research (e.g., Mollenkopf et al 2007;Yu et al 2005) has demonstrated that perceived ease of use often has only an indirect effect on behavioral intention, mediated by perceived usefulness or relative advantage. Given the conflicting findings in the literature, both direct and indirect effects of perceived ease of use on an SME's behavioral intention to adopt or continue to use the ODSC are included in our research model.…”

Examining Drivers of Consumer Returns in E-Tailing with Real Shop Data

“…Therefore, the utility of ordering is positively influenced by the customer's expectations of the product and negatively influenced by the attached uncertainty [13,14]. To reduce the customer's perceived risk, many e-tailers offer liberal returns policies that can be considered as insurance against negative experiences [15,16]. Actively advertising these liberal policies decreases a consumer's uncertainty, thus increasing his or her overall likelihood of placing an order [17,18].…”

Modèles d’affaires, logistique et innovation : le cas du e-commerce

“…Les activités analysées sont la gestion de stock (Kull et al, 2013 ;Taylor et al, 2004 ;Rabinovich 2003Rabinovich , 2004Rabinovich , 2011, les retours (Mollenkopf et al, 2007 ;Rao et al, 2014, Kokkinaki et al, 1999, le management des systèmes d'information (Waller and Fawcett, 2013 ;Wang, 2008Sanders, 2007).…”