The Causes Of Product Return For Online Apparel Products Case Study
2.1 The causes of product return for online apparel products
Research on commercial returns have shown that the reasons for product returns could be defects, product incompatibility with user needs, and deficiencies in product performance relative to customer expectations (Ferguson, Guide, Souza, 2006; Guide, Souza, Van Wassenhove, & Blackburn, 2006; Rao, Rabinovich, & Raju, 2014). However, the main reason of returns suggested by Lawton (2008) is that products are not meeting consumer’s needs. Because of the characteristic of online shopping, customers can't feel or touch the products, the product information becomes important for customers familiarize themselves with the product characteristics. Lee (2015) also indicates that one of the reasons consumers return products is “purchase with incomplete product knowledge”. He explains that when consumers encounter problems because they lack information about how to use the complex product after purchased, they will become anxious or uncertain with the purchased product and then tend to return it (Lee, 2015). However, not every customer has a perfect idea of their own …show more content…
Product fit relates to experiential product attributes, such as the fit of clothes (Hong & Pavlou, 2014). Consumers who purchase apparel product online can only know whether the product fits him/her after receiving it, if the product-preference is mismatched, it will lead to dissatisfaction and product return (Hong & Pavlou, 2014). In addition, Lee (2015) has found that one of the reasons consumers returned products is “acquisition of additional information after purchase”. What’s more, if consumers get some negative information from the third party about the product they purchased, they will probably return
Research on commercial returns have shown that the reasons for product returns could be defects, product incompatibility with user needs, and deficiencies in product performance relative to customer expectations (Ferguson, Guide, Souza, 2006; Guide, Souza, Van Wassenhove, & Blackburn, 2006; Rao, Rabinovich, & Raju, 2014). However, the main reason of returns suggested by Lawton (2008) is that products are not meeting consumer’s needs. Because of the characteristic of online shopping, customers can't feel or touch the products, the product information becomes important for customers familiarize themselves with the product characteristics. Lee (2015) also indicates that one of the reasons consumers return products is “purchase with incomplete product knowledge”. He explains that when consumers encounter problems because they lack information about how to use the complex product after purchased, they will become anxious or uncertain with the purchased product and then tend to return it (Lee, 2015). However, not every customer has a perfect idea of their own …show more content…
Product fit relates to experiential product attributes, such as the fit of clothes (Hong & Pavlou, 2014). Consumers who purchase apparel product online can only know whether the product fits him/her after receiving it, if the product-preference is mismatched, it will lead to dissatisfaction and product return (Hong & Pavlou, 2014). In addition, Lee (2015) has found that one of the reasons consumers returned products is “acquisition of additional information after purchase”. What’s more, if consumers get some negative information from the third party about the product they purchased, they will probably return