Read the summary and the most important questions on Rewarding customers who keep a product: How reinforcement affects customers' product return decision in online retailing A4MCM

• 1 Introduction

• 2 decision stages of customers are discussed in the article when it comes to online shopping, what are they?

  1. IF you want to order or not; very uncertain because you cannot see the product or try it on - which is possible in a store - lack information for final decision; 
     
  2. Keep or return ordered items.

• What are the 2 goals that online retailers pursue with regards to the two decision stages that a customer makes when ordering online?

  1. Stage 1: high order intention; 
     
  2. Stage 2: low-return intention.

• What risks does a lenient policy within return management, bring?

  People tend to bring back their products very easily.

• What promotional component do the authors suggest to add to the lenient policy in order to reduce the amount of send-backs of orders?

  A "keep reward" (promotion strategy) that offers a 'reward' - stimulus - every time you decide to hold on to your ordered product.

• What are the 3 contributions that this article makes to the literature?

  1. Forms an improvement on the biggest problem with existing lenient policy by adding an advertising component that possibly reduces the wish to send something back;
     
  2. It shows how rewarding people (reinforcement) can positively effect their intention of keeping a product;
  3. The study shows the effects and thus for managers it increases the understanding of encouraging to keep a product rather than to prevent people from returning their products.  

• 2 Theoretical Background

• What does the Lenient Policy in returning clothing when bought online, mean?

  Offering your customers convenience when they want to return a product (giving them a long period to return the products, or free reshipment).

• Why does a Lenient Policy work so well and a Restrictive Policy does not?

  A Lenient Policy evokes positive emotions whereas a Restrictive one does not.

• What does the Reward Promotion strategy mainly aim to do?

  1. Improving the lenient policy by holding onto the high-order intention; 
     
  2. Simultaneously, reaching a higher intention to keep the products.

• What does the social psychology 'Operant Conditioning' term mean?

  Behaviour that is followed by a positive - satisfying - effect are aspired and behaviour that leads to non-satisfactory effects are avoided.

• What are the 2 forms of 'Operant Conditioning'? And explain what they mean in short.

  1. Reinforcement: increasing the tendency of a desired behaviour, which can be done by showing what the positive results of certain behaviour is;
     
  2. Punishment: decreasing the tendency of an undesired behaviour, which can be done by showing what the negative results are of a certain behaviour.