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Understanding the long-term implications of retailer returns in business-to-business relationships

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Abstract

Providing end consumers with the ability to return products is an important part of a retailer’s service offering. While research in reverse logistics has explored the movement of returned merchandise upstream, little research examines the relational implications of returned merchandise in the business-to-business (B2B) context. This research explores the relational implications, as well as the impact on the supplier salesperson’s behaviors, of retailer returns. Using a comprehensive dataset which includes longitudinal archival returns data, as well as two waves of retailer surveys reporting on salesperson behaviors, our research investigates how retail returns impact salesperson responses in the following time period, retailer perceptions of the relationship in the following time period, and returns in the following time period. Consistent with a reciprocal exchange perspective, results suggest that when salespeople respond to returns by engaging in relationship building behaviors, these behaviors are noted by the retailer, which in turn results in fewer returns in a future time period.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Malloy Hall, Babson College, Suite 212, Babson Park, MA, 02457, USA

    Lauren Skinner Beitelspacher & Dhruv Grewal

  2. University of Alabama, 123 Alston Hall, Box 870225, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35406, USA

    Thomas L. Baker

  3. Ohio University, Copeland Hall-201 A, Athens, OH, 45701, USA

    Adam Rapp

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  1. Lauren Skinner Beitelspacher
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Correspondence to Lauren Skinner Beitelspacher.

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Shrihari Sridhar served as Area Editor for this article.

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Beitelspacher, L.S., Baker, T.L., Rapp, A. et al. Understanding the long-term implications of retailer returns in business-to-business relationships. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 46, 252–272 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-017-0553-6

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