零售商最適退貨機制之探討

A study on the optimal return policy for retailers

楊程宇(Cheng-Yu Yang)

指導教授 ： 邱顯鴻

國立暨南國際大學/管理學院/經濟學系/碩士(2013年)

摘要

退貨機制目前已經廣泛的在零售商實行，也是消費者在購買前考量的因素之一。本文研究主要透過三階段之動態賽局模型，探討零售商提供退貨機制與換貨機制的情況下，面對到兩階層異質性偏好的消費者，如何做出最佳的決策。本文使用逆向歸納法來分析各個流程，分別探討消費者的退換貨決策、消費者的購買決策、零售商的訂價與退換貨決策。
考慮退貨機制時，當商品的品質越好，零售商會提供退貨服務機率會越高;而消費者的換貨成本比退貨成本低的時候，這時當品質很好或不好時，提供退貨服務可使其利潤達到最大，反而當品質中等，零售商提供換貨機制反而是好的選擇。另外往社會福利的角度來看，零售商提供退貨服務可能會導致社會福利的減損。另外當市場沒有提供退貨機制的時候，零售商與社會福利都是當商品品質較好，提供維修服務為最適。

關鍵字

賽局 ； 退貨決策 ； 換貨決策 ； 維修決策 ； 退貨成本 ； 換貨成本

並列摘要

Return policies have been widely implemented by retailers, and they also significantly affect consumers’ purchasing decisions. This study employs a three-stage dynamic game and uses backward induction to analyze the equilibrium behavior of consumers’ return or exchange decision, consumers’ purchasing decision, and retailers’ pricing decision and return policy. When considering return policy only, we found that higher product quality may lead the retailer more likely to offer return policy. When consumers’ hassle cost of exchanging a good is lower than that of returning a good, we found that the retailer is more likely to offer exchange policy when product quality is intermediate. Finally, from the perspective of social welfare, we found that social welfare is increasing in product quality; however, retailer’s offering of return or exchange policy may cause a welfare loss.

並列關鍵字

game theory ； return strategies ； exchange strategies ； repair strategies ； hassle costs

參考文獻

Davis, S., E. Gerstner, M. Hagerty. 1995. Money back guarantees in retailing: Matching products to consumer tastes. Journal of Retailing. 71(1) 7–22.

Hess, J. D., W. Chu, E. Gerstner. 1996. Controlling product returns in direct marketing. Marketing Letters. 7(4) 307–317.

Zettelmeyer, F. 2000. Expanding to the Internet: Pricing and communications strategies when firms compete on multiple channels. Journal of Marketing Research. 37(3) 292–308.

Hao Wang. 2004. Do Returns Policies Intensify Retail Competition? Marketing Science. 23(4) 611-613.

Jeffrey D. Shulman, Anne T. Coughlan, and R. Canan Savaskan. 2009. Optimal Restocking Fees and Information Provision in an Integrated Demand-Supply Model of Product Returns. Manufacturing and Service Operations Management. 11(4) 577-594.