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Competing with customer returns policies

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  • Jing Chen
  • Bintong Chen

Abstract

Return of products purchased by customers is a common phenomenon in the retail industry and results in costs to retailers. In practice, most retailers implement a full-refund policy, but the terms of customer returns policies vary. A customer returns policy serves as a post-customer service, and is a determinant factor in the customer’s decision to purchase the product, in addition to other factors, such as the price of the product. In this paper, for competing retailers who face customer returns, competition from multiple retailers and uncertain customer valuations of the product, we develop a model to examine when retailers can survive and what pricing strategy they should implement in a competitive market. We identify the co-existence conditions for multiple retailers and the existence conditions of a Nash equilibrium among competing retailers. We also show the impact of customer returns on the retailers’ pricing and market share, as well as on profits in a competitive market. Numerical examples are included to illustrate the major results discussed in the paper.

Suggested Citation

  • Jing Chen & Bintong Chen, 2016. "Competing with customer returns policies," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(7), pages 2093-2107, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:tprsxx:v:54:y:2016:i:7:p:2093-2107
    DOI: 10.1080/00207543.2015.1106019
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Jixiang Zhang & Chen Zhu, 2020. "Research on the Dynamic Pricing and Service Decisions in the Reverse Supply Chain considering Consumers’ Service Sensitivity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-21, November.
    3. Li, Wei & Chen, Jing, 2018. "Backward integration strategy in a retailer Stackelberg supply chain," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 118-130.
    4. Junxia He & Jian Liu & Fan Yang & Xia Zhao, 2022. "Returns Freight Insurance Policy and the Impact from a BOPS Retailer," SN Operations Research Forum, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 1-36, March.
    5. Mills, Paul & Groening, Christopher, 2021. "The role of social acceptability and guilt in unethical consumer behavior: Following the crowd or their own moral compass?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 377-388.
    6. Yang, Hui & Sun, Fei & Chen, Jing & Chen, Bintong, 2019. "Financing decisions in a supply chain with a capital-constrained manufacturer as new entrant," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 321-332.
    7. Wen, Xin & Choi, Tsan-Ming & Chung, Sai-Ho, 2019. "Fashion retail supply chain management: A review of operational models," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 34-55.
    8. Zhang, Zhichao & Xu, Haiyan & Zhao, Yingxue & Liu, Zhi & Chen, Kebing, 2023. "Extended warranty service provision: A strategic analysis for the E-commerce platform supply chain," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    9. Guo, Xiongfei & Chen, Jing & Wu, Jie & Zhang, Tinglong & Zhang, Hui, 2024. "Returns policy, in-store service, and contract strategies in the presence of customer returns," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 186(C).
    10. He, Qidong & Wang, Nengmin & Yang, Zhen & He, Zhengwen & Jiang, Bin, 2019. "Competitive collection under channel inconvenience in closed-loop supply chain," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 275(1), pages 155-166.
    11. Michael Krapp & Johannes B. Kraus, 2019. "Coordination contracts for reverse supply chains: a state-of-the-art review," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 89(7), pages 747-792, September.
    12. Bingsheng Liu & Wenwen Zhu & Yinghua Shen & Yuan Chen & Tao Wang & Fengwen Chen & Maggie Wenjing Liu & Shi‐Hao Zhou, 2022. "A study about return policies in the presence of consumer social learning," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(6), pages 2571-2587, June.
    13. Shujun Yang & Ivan Kai Wai Lai & Huajun Tang, 2022. "Pricing and Contract Coordination of BOPS Supply Chain Considering Product Return Risk," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-21, April.

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