A Review of the Multidimensional Impact of Return Policies on Pricing Strategies, Retailers, and Consumer Pricing Strategies

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-706-9_39How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Electronic Retailing; Return Policy; Reverse Supply Chain; Return Cost; Pricing

Abstract

In electronic retailing, the implementation of effective return policies and proper return management is essential for improving customer retention. However, many retailers focus solely on one-time sales, which leads to decreased customer satisfaction and ultimately, customer attrition. This paper employs mathematical modeling to analyze the behavior of retailers and consumers under two scenarios: with and without return policies. It reveals how return policies influence retailers’ optimal pricing strategies. Additionally, it summarizes the impact of return policies on retailers, consumers, and pricing strategies. From a retailer’s perspective, flexible return policies in sales-promotional scenarios can enhance consumers’ repurchase intentions. Moreover, reverse supply chains and partial refund strategies can help reduce costs and increase expected profits. From a consumer’s perspective, satisfaction significantly impacts loyalty, and reducing return costs can increase order rates.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Siyuan Zhao
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/05/07
TI  - A Review of the Multidimensional Impact of Return Policies on Pricing Strategies, Retailers, and Consumer Pricing Strategies
BT  - Proceedings of the 2024 2th International Conference on Economic Management, Financial Innovation and Public Service (EMFIPS 2024)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 426
EP  - 448
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-706-9_39
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-706-9_39
ID  - Zhao2025
ER  -