مقاله انگلیسی رایگان در مورد بازده خرده فروش در روابط تجارت به تجارت – اسپرینگر 2018

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 businessto-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.

Retailer returns

Retailer returns are a common element of supplier–retailer relationships. Typically, at the end of a selling season, the supplier agrees to take back the retailer’s unsold merchandise for a refund or a credit toward future orders, something that is typically negotiated a priori. A returns policy shifts the burden of demand uncertainty from the retailer to the supplier and acts as an incentive for retailers to increase stock (Yue and Raghunathan 2007). However, this increases the risk for suppliers since, as noted above, suppliers will generally take back unsold merchandise at the end of the selling period. These retailer returns might occur for a variety of reasons. A dominant cause of retailer returns is due to overstocks, which largely occur due to their being a finite selling period or uncertain demand (Tsay 2001). Surpluses might also occur when a brand, or a competing brand, introduces a new version of a product thus rendering the initial product obsolete. Overstocks are damaging to the retailer as the only way to reduce them is through markdowns (or sales) to increase the sell thru or by returning the merchandise to the vendor. Retailer returns might also occur when a supplier salesperson encourages a retailer to purchase certain quantities, and the sales team at the retailer is not committed to helping sell that product. For example, a sales associate at Best Buy might have an affinity for Samsung products and therefore sells fewer LG products, thus creating a surplus.