Getting consumers to learn more about the product – The Effect of informative return labels on information processing and return rates
(A2025-126111)

AUTHORS

Sergey Turlo, Goethe University Frankfurt; Katharina Kessing, University of Wuppertal

ABSTRACT

Product returns pose a significant challenge for both online retailers and the environment. Despite a wide range of interventions aiming to provide consumers with additional product information, the challenge persists. This article analyzes online retailers’ latest proposal to provide return information by, e.g., labelling “frequently returned items”, and derives conditions under which such a strategy can encourage deeper consumer engagement with product information. Based on a multi-method approach using an analytical model and an experiment, this article demonstrates how providing return information influences customers’ information processing efforts, conditional on their subjective prior beliefs that the product matches their individual taste, which in turn affects customers’ product returns. It also proposes alternative interventions (e.g., hassle costs of product return) to increase consumer information processing.