RETURNS IN E-COMMERCE AS A VALUE FOR CUSTOMERS FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

E-commerce is one of the most dynamic and important sectors of the economy as well as one of the main factors leading to greater competitiveness. The dynamic development of e-commerce is driven by rapidly expanding Internet access, but also by growing mobility and popularity of portable devices, via which customers order goods and services at a convenient time and place more and more frequently. They do not only order things, but, more and more often, everyday products to which they want to have very fast access. If products do not meet their expectations, they want to return them. Returns in e-commerce should be seamless and leave a good experience. Thanks to that, they could add some new value for customers. If online sellers take returns seriously, they can gain a competitive advantage in the form of greater customer satisfaction and loyalty. The subject of value for customers in e-commerce is a relatively new research area (Francis et al., 2014). Most of the studies conducted so far have focused on customer-seller relations, excluding the role and participation of other entities involved in the process of value creation for the customer (Bakker et al., 2008). The first aim of the article is to present the results of research on value for customers in e-commerce returns from the different perspectives of: customers, online sellers, suppliers and complementors. The second objective is to determine the impact of returns on customer satisfaction and loyalty and, consequently, on consumer spending and business performance. The research evaluated the significance of factors evoked by different entities that create value for the customer, using empirical research, on a sample of 800 respondents.