Search Conferences

Type in any word, words or author name. This searchs through the abstract title, keywords and abstract text and authors. You may search all conferences or just select one conference.


 All Conferences
 EMAC 2019 Annual Conference
 EMAC 2020 Annual Conference
 EMAC 2020 Regional Conference
 EMAC 2021 Annual Conference
 EMAC 2021 Regional Conference
 EMAC 2022 Annual
 EMAC 2022 Regional Conference
 EMAC 2023 Annual
 EMAC 2023 Regional Conference

EMAC 2021 Annual Conference


How Does the Covid-19 Pandemic Affect Consumer Returns: An Exploratory Study
(A2021-94689)

Published: May 25, 2021

AUTHORS

David Karl, University of Bamberg; Björn Asdecker, University of Bamberg

ABSTRACT

In recent years, significant sales shifted from stationary retail to e-commerce. This trend is further accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has placed major constraints on brick-and-mortar retailers. Yet, there is still one critical aspect that threatens the success of the business model: consumer returns. Against this background, this paper conducts a systematic literature review to provide an overview about the extent of consumer returns. However, the published return rates vary widely and are mostly based on the data of a single e-tailer. Therefore, this study conducts an exploratory survey to capture product category-specific return rates and to explore the influences of Covid-19 on consumer return behavior. Theoretically, this research adds knowledge about the reverse part of the e-commerce business model and the effects of the current pandemic. Managerially, the collected data can be used for benchmarking purposes and can help to improve the e-tailers’ returns management.