What Factors Drive Product Returns in Omnichannel Retail?

Purpose: Retail businesses aim to give customers a positive experience when shopping in their stores or online channels. Easy or "frictionless" product returns are part of this experience, which is hoped to encourage additional purchases. However, customer-friendly policies lead to increased return rates and consequently a detrimental effect on the environment due to increased product wastage as well as additional packaging and transportation. Product returns also significantly affect retailers' profits through a reduction in net sales and the costs of processing returns. A better understanding of what drives product returns allows retailers to optimise their returns management.Design/methodology/approach: Based on a review of literature, we conducted 14 semi-structured interviews with 19 experts from retailers, retailer associations and retail technology providers in the UK, the US and Canada. The interviews were transcribed and thematically analysed using an inductive approach. Findings: We provide a comprehensive picture of the factors driving customers returns, building a framework of customer experience in product returns, and formulates actions that retailers can take to manage returns rates in view of their economic and environmental costs as well as the opportunities they offer for engaging with customers.Originality: Whilst many authors have discussed selected drivers of product returns, predominantly with a focus on customer related aspects, there is no comprehensive overview. This article explores retailer related drivers of product returns and provides a synthesis of existing work enriched with new insights