Investigating Return Behavior in e-commerce: A Data-Driven Study

Returns pose a significant challenge to the e-commerce industry as they gobble up profits, jam up operations, and leave a trail of financial woes. The objective of the current study is to identify the patterns that describe e-commerce return behaviour and shed light on the potential solutions for e-commerce return management. The current study uses e-commerce return data collected from an international retailer primarily operating in the United States of America. Results of the regression analysis reveal that certain product configurations exhibit a higher propensity for returns. Based on the insights derived from these results, the current study proposes dynamic pricing and return management approaches aimed at incentivizing customers to make more informed purchase decisions. By incorporating these approaches, companies can enhance their customer experience and mitigate losses resulting from product returns.