The Impact of Website Stimuli on Product Returns in Online Retailing: A Structured Abstract

Product returns are a phenomenon that seems to be closely interconnected with the rise of online retailing in the last decades. However, key questions in this area still remain unanswered. What specific factors drive customers to return merchandise purchased online? How does their cognition and behavior during the purchase process affect returns? Can online retailers adjust their websites to impact return behavior? The current research attempts to develop a better understanding of the association of the purchase decision process and product return intentions, while evaluating the utilization of website characteristics to decrease product returns. In order to do so, the paper presents the results of an experiment designed to test the impact of certain cues, such as the level of product information, on an online shopping website on the intention to return merchandise.