Product return is a necessary part of the exchange process between companies and customers. It accounts for approximately 16% of total sales and a reduction in retailer / manufacturer profits by 3.8% on average. However, industry data also indicates that a significant portion of products are returned for reasons other than product failure – e.g., change of mind, found a lower price elsewhere, or fraudulent and unethical reasons. Consequently, many firms (e.g., REI) have altered their generous return policies to protect their profits. However, it’s been found that the restricted return policy could also reduce customer satisfaction, increase the perceived risk, and thus negatively affect customers’ loyalty towards a particular store or firm. Thus having a restrictive return policy does not help either. Extant literature mainly focuses on return policies. Little attention has been devoted to the product return behavior itself, thus missing the consumer’s perspective. This study, therefore, focuses on understanding consumers’ return behaviors, including different types of return behaviors, and the drivers and consequences of these different return behaviors. Towards this goal, this study first categorizes all possible types of consumers’ return behaviors into two broad categories - legitimate return behaviors and opportunistic return behaviors. Second, both internal (i.e., variety seeking, impulsiveness, perceived uniqueness, materialism, level of morality, and self-monitoring) and external drivers (i.e., product compatibility, returning cost, perceived risk, complexity of procedure, and social group influence) of consumers’ product return behaviors are identified. Third, the relationship between these drivers of return behavior and the type of return behavior are examined. Finally, the influence of these two different types of return behaviors on consumer’s re-patronage intention is examined. This study uses a survey method to collect data in two phases - pilot phase and main study. In the pilot phase, data were collected from students and used to assess the factor structure, reliability and validity. In the main study, data were collected from both students (N=367) and non-students using M-Turk (N=395). The psychometric properties of the scale items were once again assessed using covariance based Confirmatory Factor Analysis procedure. Finally, multivariate regression was used to test the hypothesized relationships between the drivers of return behavior, types of return behavior, and the re-patronage intention. The findings indicate that product compatibility and desire for uniqueness negatively influence legitimate return behavior; whereas impulsiveness, perceived risk and social group have a positive influence. For opportunistic return behavior, social group and immorality positively influence both legitimate and opportunistic return behavior. However, other drivers have no influence on consumers’ return behavior. Finally, legitimate return behavior positively influences consumer’s re-patronage intention, while opportunistic return behavior has a negative influence. This study makes two major contributions. First, it contributes to the theoretical understanding of complex return behavior, including legitimate return and opportunistic return behavior, and thus adds depth to the literature of product returns. Second, by identifying the drivers of product return behaviors such as product compatibility, perceived risk of keeping the product, social group influence, and immorality, this study offers managers knowledge that will help reduce product returns, thus increasing their profits.

De senaste åren har den digitala utvecklingen lett till stor utveckling inom konsumenters köpbeteenden online. I takt med att det uppkommit fler aktörer på marknaden har e-handelsföretag konkurrerat inom pris, fraktalternativ och andra kostnader för att underlätta köpupplevelsen för kunder. Det har lett till att kundens köpbeteende förändras och produkt returerna ökat. Studien undersöker konsumenters returbeteende inom e-handel kopplat till konsumentens personlighet för att hitta samband i beteenden som kan bidra till kunskap kring vilka personlighetsdimensioner som är mer benägna att returnera varor. För att undersöka om det finns ett samband mellan konsumentens personlighetsdimensioner och returbeteende testar studien hypoteser utformade efter femfaktorsteorins dimensioner och de legitima- samt opportunistiska returbeteendet. Studien kommer att bidra med vidare forskning inom returbeteende genom en enkätundersökning av svenska konsumenter. Slutsatsen som kan dras i studien är att vissa personlighetsdimensioner kan kopplas till opportunistiskt och legitimt returbeteende. Denna studie har kunnat visa att neuroticism, välvillighet och samvetsgrannhet är viktiga faktorer som påverkar en individs returbeteende. Den har även visat att det finns ett stort behov av framtida forskning inom området, eftersom det finns indikationer till fler samband. / This essay is in Swedish. In recent years, digital developments have led to major developments in consumers' purchasing behavior online. As more players emerged in the market, e-commerce companies have competed on price, shipping options and other costs to facilitate the shopping experience for customers. This has led to a change in the customer's buying behavior and an increase in product returns. The study examines the return behavior of artifacts in e-commerce linked to the consumer's personality in order to find connections in behaviors that can contribute to knowledge about which personality dimensions are more likely to return goods. To investigate whether there is a relationship between the consumer's personality dimensions and return behavior, the study tests hypotheses designed according to the dimensions of the five-factor theory and the legitimate and opportunistic return behavior. The study will contribute to further research in return behavior through a survey of Swedish consumers. The conclusion that can be drawn in the study is that certain personality dimensions can be linked to opportunistic and legitimate return behavior. This study has been able to show that neuroticism, agreeableness and conscientiousness are important factors that influence an individual's return behavior. It has also shown that there is a great need for future research in the area, as there are indications of more connections.

College student consumers are an increasingly important segment for marketers and scholars, particularly with the advent of online shopping. This research aims at exploring the effect of college students' decision-making styles on online purchase and return behavior. An online questionnaire survey was conducted on 1100 college students at the University of Central Florida to understand how respondents' return behavior changed with various scenarios and demographic factors. Analysis shows that scenarios involving late arrivals are the highest drivers of returns, while guilt and post- purchase regrets drove far fewer returns. Statistically significant differences in return behavior were found between demographic groups. Notably, this research identified the conditions under which these patterns in return behavior hold true, uncovering clusters of respondents who behave in characteristically similar or different ways. By understanding the factors that drive college students to return online purchases, companies can more efficiently and profitably serve this growing segment of consumers.

Online consumption and e-tail have clearly increased in recent years, largely sinceaccessibility is an advantage that consumers notice as beneficial. The availability of e-tail has also received clear environmental disadvantages, as returns are an inevitable part of online orders. The increased return rate results in large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, something customer groups with environmental awareness has perceived. Which leads to the purpose of this research, to provide information about environmentally conscious consumers, their behaviors, and intentions towards e-tail returns. Theinformation collected, can be of great significance to fast fashion companies, e-tail platforms, and decision-makers, to guide them in developing effective strategies aimed at promoting sustainable consumption behaviors and mitigating the detrimental environmental effects associated with returns.The empirical findings were gathered through qualitative research, where semi-structured interviews were conducted on 15 Swedish e-tail consumers in the ages 24-44. The empirical evidence was analysed with a Thematic Analysis and discussed in context with the secondary data to strengthen the collected empirical evidence.The conclusion of the thesis portray that the participating environmentally conscious consumers have a predominant insight regarding the environmental impact that occurs when returning e-tail purchases. The research shows that environmental awareness is considered when ordering and returning garments, however, to varying extents, which leads to inconsistent actions. The participants have more environmental thinking regarding the product, production, delivery and consumption i.e., the buying process that directly affects the participants. However, conflicts are identified in several aspects such as that environmental communication from e-tail companies is difficult to understand, economic aspects and the conflict of the desire for certain garments. In summary, the results show that the return process is not prioritized to the same extent as the buying process, because of indirect influence or lack of knowledge of the participants. The findings indicate that there is not always a harmony between the perceptions and actions of the participants.

E-commerce has increased gradually and continues to increase in both the global and Swedish markets. Shopping online has never been easier, where time savings along with a lower price makes it tempting to order products online. But the ever-increasing orders should not only be delivered to the consumer, in many cases they will also be returned. These returns create both financial difficulties for companies and ecological difficulties for the environment. To reduce this, the consumers who make these returns must be analyzed in depth, which is why the purpose of this study will be to understand the consumer's return behavior in relation to their attitude. To do this, eight qualitative interviews were conducted with consumers of different ages, which had made returns from e-commerce orders. A common way of analyzing consumer behavior is through classical attitude theory where the attitude is divided into three components which are, cognition, affect, and behavior. When the consumers' responses then are analyzed with the attitude theory, their return behavior differs, while the attitude is primarily still negative towards returns. This seems to be based a lot on the various factors that consumers bring from the cognitive component of the attitude. Finally, it leads to suggestions that future research should focus more on change in the actual consumer. / E-handel har ökat successivt och fortsätter att öka på den globala och svenska marknaden. Att handla på nätet har aldrig varit enklare, där bekvämlighet och tidsbesparingar tillsammans med ett lägre pris gör det lockande att beställa hem produkter. Men de ständigt ökade beställningarna ska inte bara levereras till konsumenten, de ska i många fall även tillbaka därifrån. Dessa returer skapar både ekonomiska svårigheter för företag och ekologiska svårigheter för miljön. För att minska detta måste konsumenterna som gör dessa returer analyseras på djupet varför syftet för rapporten är att förstå konsumenternas returbeteende i relation till deras attityder. För att göra detta har åtta intervjuer av kvalitativ sort genomförts med konsumenter i olika åldrar, som har gjort returer från e-handelsbeställningar. Ett vanligt sätt att analysera konsumenters beteende på, är genom klassisk attitydteori där attityden delas in i tre komponenter vilka är, kognition, affekt och beteende. När konsumenternas svar sedan analyseras med attitydteorin går det se att deras returbeteende skiljer sig åt, medan attityden till stor del fortfarande är negativ till returer. Vilket verkar grunda sig mycket i de olika faktorerna som konsumenterna har med sig från den kognitiva komponenten i attityden. Det leder slutligen till förslag på framtida forskning, där fokus borde läggas på förändring hos konsumenten.

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Notícias de escassez no mundo inteiro, dada a crescente demanda e o rigor na triagem clínica, levaram a necessidade de investigar métodos que mensurem o comportamento de retorno do doador de sangue, sobretudo o indivíduo que manifesta a intenção voluntária em doar. Curvas de Sobrevivência entre outros métodos estatísticos são amplamente estudados na literatura com o intuito de obter uma estimativa da chance de um doador vir a realizar uma subseqüente doação, associado ao seu perfil. O objetivo do presente estudo é identificar modelos estatísticos capazes de descrever esse comportamento utilizan do os registros do Centro Regional de Hemoterapia de Ribeirão Preto. A cons trução de modelos de longa-duração, por exemplo, pode ser um meio de evidenciar possíveis subgrupos mais propensos a retornar, além de estimar a proporção de doadores que jamais retornarão. Entre os resultados, obser vamos que apenas 40% dos doadores voluntários retornaram após um ano decorrido da primeira doação, e 20% destes jamais retornarão. O ajuste do modelo longaduração possibilitou ainda indicar alguns subgrupos de doadores prováveis e improváveis de retornar, porém tais resultados reforçam as evidências de que a motivação intrínseca é o que leva o individuo a retornar. / Reports of worldwide shortages due the increased demand and rigor of clinical screening have led to the necessity to investigate methods that measure blood donor return behavior, mainly regarding individuals who manifest the voluntary intention to donate. Survival curves, among others statistical methods, have been extensively studied in the literature in order to estimate the likelihood of a donor to make another donation, associated with his profile. The aim of the present study was to identify statistical models describing this behavior using information from the Regional Hemotherapy Center of Ribeirão Preto. The construction of long-term survival model can be a useful instrument for determining the groups more likely to donate, as well as the proportion of donors who will never return. The results obtained revealed that only 40% of the volunteer primary donors return for a new donation one year after the first, with the estimate that 20% will never return. The construction of long-term survival model still facilitated to indicate some groups likely and unlike ly donors to donate, even so such re sults reinforce the evidences that the intrinsic motivation is what prompts a donor to return.

Notícias de escassez no mundo inteiro, dada a crescente demanda e o rigor na triagem clínica, levaram a necessidade de investigar métodos que mensurem o comportamento de retorno do doador de sangue, sobretudo o indivíduo que manifesta a intenção voluntária em doar. Curvas de Sobrevivência entre outros métodos estatísticos são amplamente estudados na literatura com o intuito de obter uma estimativa da chance de um doador vir a realizar uma subseqüente doação, associado ao seu perfil. O objetivo do presente estudo é identificar modelos estatísticos capazes de descrever esse comportamento utilizan do os registros do Centro Regional de Hemoterapia de Ribeirão Preto. A cons trução de modelos de longa-duração, por exemplo, pode ser um meio de evidenciar possíveis subgrupos mais propensos a retornar, além de estimar a proporção de doadores que jamais retornarão. Entre os resultados, obser vamos que apenas 40% dos doadores voluntários retornaram após um ano decorrido da primeira doação, e 20% destes jamais retornarão. O ajuste do modelo longaduração possibilitou ainda indicar alguns subgrupos de doadores prováveis e improváveis de retornar, porém tais resultados reforçam as evidências de que a motivação intrínseca é o que leva o individuo a retornar. / Reports of worldwide shortages due the increased demand and rigor of clinical screening have led to the necessity to investigate methods that measure blood donor return behavior, mainly regarding individuals who manifest the voluntary intention to donate. Survival curves, among others statistical methods, have been extensively studied in the literature in order to estimate the likelihood of a donor to make another donation, associated with his profile. The aim of the present study was to identify statistical models describing this behavior using information from the Regional Hemotherapy Center of Ribeirão Preto. The construction of long-term survival model can be a useful instrument for determining the groups more likely to donate, as well as the proportion of donors who will never return. The results obtained revealed that only 40% of the volunteer primary donors return for a new donation one year after the first, with the estimate that 20% will never return. The construction of long-term survival model still facilitated to indicate some groups likely and unlike ly donors to donate, even so such re sults reinforce the evidences that the intrinsic motivation is what prompts a donor to return.

Coronapandemins bidrag till en kraftigt ökad e-handel lyfter problemet med de ökade returerna och dess negativa miljöpåverkan. Hållbarhet har blivit en viktig aspekt i dagens samhälle som ökar i popularitet parallellt med e-handelns tillväxt, vilket utifrån ett konsumentperspektiv blir motstridigt. Ytterligare en aspekt som är viktig att ta hänsyn till är företags skonsamma returpolicys, som påverkar konsumentbeteendet vid returer. Syftet med studien är att förklara hur konsumenters hållbarhetsattityder påverkar genomförandet av planerade respektive oplanerade returer, samt hur företags returpolicys kan ha en inverkan på konsumenters returbeteende. För att kunna besvara syftet har studien genomförts med hjälp av en kvantitativ metod genom en enkätstudie på studenter från Högskolan i Borås. Studien utgår från teorier om kategorier av online returbeteenden, Theory of planned behaviour och returpolicys som ligger till grund för det resultat som studien genererat. Slutsatser från studiens resultat är att hållbarhetsattityder inte har någon större betydelse för returbeteende, samt att skonsamma returpolicys är att föredra, oavsett om avsikten är att genomföra en retur eller inte. / The Corona pandemic's contribution to a sharp increase in e-commerce raises the problem of increased returns and its negative environmental impact. Sustainability has become an important aspect of today's society that is increasing in popularity in parallel with the growing e-commerce, which from a consumer perspective becomes contradictory. Another aspect that is important to take into account is companies' generous return policies, which affect consumer behavior when returning. The purpose of the study is to explain how consumers' sustainability attitudes affect the execution of planned and unplanned returns, as well as how companies' return policies can have an impact on consumers' return behavior. In order to be able to answer the purpose, the study was carried out using a quantitative method through a questionnaire study of students from the University of Borås. The study is based on theories about categories of online return behaviors, The theory of planned behavior and return policies which together form the basis for results generated by the study. Conclusions from the study results are that sustainability attitudes have no major significance for the return behavior, and that lenient return policies are preferred, regardless of whether the intention is to carry out a return or not. This thesis is written in Swedish.

Datum: 2023-05-31 Nivå: Kandidatuppsats i Företagsekonomi, 15 högskolepoäng Institution: Akademin för Ekonomi, Samhälle och Teknik, Mälardalens Universitet. Författare: Sivan Dana, Alina Music Titel: Hur kan konsumentens returbeteende vid onlineköp minimeras med stöd från det digitala verktyget mobile augmented reality (MAR)? Handledare: Sara Melén Hånell Nyckelord: E-handel, modebranschen, digitalisering, virtuella provrum, Mobile AugmentedReality (MAR), returbeteende Teoretisk utgångspunkt: The Theory of Planned Behaviour Syfte: Syftet med studien är att med hjälp av kvalitativ metod undersöka hur konsumentersreturbeteende kan minimeras med användning av Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR). Studien ska förse fördjupad kunskap samt öka förståelsen för hur konsumenter kan uppnå fördelarmed hjälp av digitala verktyg. Metod: Författarna har tillämpat en kvalitativ forskningsmetod till den här studien. Den kvalitativa metoden har genomförts med hjälp av nio (9) djupintervjuer med respondenter som regelbundet konsumerar kläder via e-handelsplattformar. Slutsats: Denna uppsats har bekräftats av den insamlade empirin att det digitala verktyget MAR kan med stor sannolikhet minimera returbeeendet hos konsumenter. Slutsatsen för denstudien visar att konsumenter kan uppnå fördelar med hjälp av funktionen. / Date: 2023-05-31 Level: Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration, 15 credits  Institution: School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University  Authors: Sivan Dana, Alina Music Title: How can the consumer return behavior in online purchases be minimized with the support of the digital tool mobile augmented reality (MAR)? Supervisor: Sara Melén Hånell Keywords: E-commerce, fashion industry, digitization, virtual fitting rooms, Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR), return behavior Theoretical Starting Point: The Theory of Planned Behaviour Purpose: This study uses a qualitative research method to investigate how consumers' return behavior can be minimized using Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR). The study will provide in-depth knowledge and increase understanding of how consumers can achieve benefits with the help of digital tools. Method: The authors have applied a qualitative research method to this study. The qualitative method has been carried out using nine (9) in-depth interviews with respondents who regularly consume clothes via e-commerce platforms.   Conclusion: This thesis has been confirmed by the collected empirical evidence that the digital tool MAR can very likely minimize the return behavior of consumers. The conclusion of the study shows that consumers can achieve benefits by using MAR.