Information and its impact on consumers' reactions to restrictive return policies

Designing an effective return policy is a difficult task for retailers. A very restrictive return policy can keep logistic costs down and prevent fraudulent returns but it can also have a negative effect on consumer behavior. Two experiments explore the role of assortment-related information in moderating consumers' negative reactions to more restrictive product return policies. The results demonstrate that consumers will view an assortment characterized by a more restrictive return policy as attractive to the extent that the assortment supports the information processing strategy triggered by the return policy. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.