Design of Win-Win Return Policies for Online Retailers
Design of Win-Win Return Policies for Online Retailers
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DOI：
10.1016/j.ejor.2021.11.030
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发表时间：
2021-11
影响因子：
6.4
通讯作者：
Huirong Fan;M. Khouja;Jing Zhou
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Huirong Fan;M. Khouja;Jing Zhou
产品退货每年给零售商造成数十亿美元的损失。我们在衣柜管理员在场的情况下分析现金退款的退货政策 (RP)。然后，我们分析商店信用卡或礼品卡 (SC/GC) 退款的 RP。我们还分析了消费者在现金和 SC/GC 退款之间进行选择的两种选择 RP。我们发现，对于只接受现金的零售价，零售商利用价格来吸引消费者，同时利用退款比例来阻止消费者购买。当消费者对 SC/GC 估值较高且部分 SC/GC 未赎回时，SC/GC 可以成为现金的良好替代品。 SC/GC具有较高的兑换率，当消费者享受享乐性购买且零售商有合理的利润率时，SC/GC可以成为一个不错的选择。我们还发现，当真正的消费者和着装者对 SC/GC 具有相同的估值时，单选项 RP 会主导双选项 RP；而当两个消费者群体对 SC/GC 具有异质估值时，双选项 RP 可能会占主导地位。当两种选择的 RP 占主导地位时，零售商会向对 SC/GC 估值较高的真正消费者提供宽松的 SC/GC 选项，并使用现金选项来降低成本或增加对某些问题参数范围内的 SC/GC 估值较低的衣柜消费者的利润。此外，当消费者对 SC/GC 进行持续评估时，在纯正品消费市场中，双选项 RP 会主导单选项 RP。通过两种选择的 RP，零售商使用现金来增加对 SC/GC 估值较低的消费者的利润，并使用 SC/GC 来增加对 SC/GC 估值高的消费者的利润。
Product returns cost retailers billions of dollars annually. We analyze return policies (RPs) with cash refunds in the presence of wardrobers. We then analyze RPs with store credit or gift cards (SC/GC) refunds. We also analyze two-option RPs in which consumers choose between cash and SC/GC refunds. We find that for cash-only RPs, the retailer uses price to attract consumers while using the refund fraction to discourage wardrobers. SC/GC can be a good alternative to cash when consumers have high valuation for SC/GC and some SC/GC are not redeemed. With high redemption rate, SC/GC can be a good alternative when consumers make hedonic purchases and the retailer has a reasonable profit margin. We also find that single-option RPs dominate two-option RPs when genuine consumers and wardrobers have the same valuation for SC/GC, and two-option RPs can dominate when the two consumer segments have heterogeneous valuation for SC/GC. When two-option RPs dominate, the retailer gives lenient SC/GC option to genuine consumers who have a high valuation for SC/GC, and uses the cash option to decrease the cost or increase the profit from wardrobers who have a low valuation for SC/GC for some ranges of problem parameters. Moreover, when consumers have continuous valuation for SC/GC, two-option RPs dominate single-option RPs in genuine-only consumer markets. With two-option RPs, the retailer uses cash to increase profit from consumers with a low valuation for SC/GC and uses SC/GC to increase profit from consumers with a high valuation for SC/GC.