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The main purpose of this study is to increase the understanding of consumer behaviour with respect to (r)e‐tail borrowing, performed under different (more or less generous) delivery and return policies.

The study was designed as a randomised controlled experiment with a random sample strategy. Among the 192,482 Swedish customers who had made an order at nelly.com during the previous 12 months and were to receive the quarterly nelly.com newsletter in November 2010 by e‐mail, 4,000 were randomly selected and randomised into four groups of 1,000 in each group.

The experiment revealed certain purchase and return patterns that support the conclusion that (r)e‐tail borrowing behaviour exists in fashion e‐commerce. Evidence was also found that lenient delivery and returns policies seem to reinforce (r)e‐tail borrowing behaviour, albeit not always in expected ways.

Differences in delivery and return policies seem to impact consumer purchase and return behaviour differently depending on the type of item. Therefore a more differentiated view of how to apply them is suggested. Offering the same delivery and return policies to all types of customers and products is generally not optimal with respect to profitability.

The paper illustrates the need to consider both delivery and returns policies together with customer and product categories simultaneously when applying them in an e‐commerce context.

First party fraud is fraud committed by an account holder or customer that does not involve the use of a stolen identity. This type of fraud has grown substantially in recent times due to increased online shopping and is becoming a major concern for online retail businesses, hereby referred to as e-tailers. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the motives and nature of first party fraud in e-tailing.

Systematic literature review was used to synthesise existing research on first party fraud. The authors used scholarly literature as well as grey literature to help understand the motives and nature of this growing business problem.

Findings reveal a myriad of schemes and motives for engaging in first party fraud.

The findings of this paper employed very little literature due to availability. However, the authors believe that the findings are still useful for advancing the knowledge in this emerging research area.

This study will be useful to researchers as well as practitioners in the retail industry in helping understand the nature and motives of first party frauds which could in turn help devise preventive strategies. The study also makes a case for increased managerial interest and involvement in reducing first party fraud.

A comprehensive literature search presented in this paper shows that this is the first paper to synthesise the various forms of first party fraud in e-tailing.

First-party fraud in which retail consumers commit fraud against retailers is a growing problem. However, to date studies on retail crime have focused almost entirely on fraudulent consumer behaviours in physical stores. With the growth of e-commerce, the losses to retailers from this fraud are growing so there is strong need to research this problem from multiple perspectives. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

The authors conducted three case studies and a total of 24 semi-structured interviews with retail managers, and evaluated their existing prevention-related documentation. Fraud management lifecycle theory was used to organise and discuss the findings.

The authors found that many retailers are treating this problem as just a cost of doing business online and have no detailed plans for dealing with this problem or any reporting to law enforcement agencies. However, they have begun working with delivery companies for delivery accuracy. Use of convenience stores as collection points is also showing early improvements.

The small number of cases and interviews used is a limitation of this study. However, the authors believe that the findings are useful for advancing knowledge in this emerging research area.

This study provides insight into existing management practices in this domain, and makes recommendations on how to improve the management of first-party fraud. The study also makes a case for increased managerial interest and involvement in reducing first-party fraud. The study also helps bridge a glaring gap in existing literature and provides useful leads for further research.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the existing practices employed to manage first-party fraud in e-retail.

First party fraud in which consumers commit fraud against retailers is a growing problem. Research in this area is very limited which means that there is almost no guidance available to mitigate this problem. Existing fraud management frameworks focus on the management of other fraud, such as identity theft or employee instigated fraud. Due to the different nature of these frauds, these frameworks do not adequately address first party fraud. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to propose an adapted version of the fraud management lifecycle framework which is specific to first party fraud management.

The authors conducted a systematic literature review and compared/contrasted a number of existing fraud management frameworks in related domains to see which one would be most suitable for first party fraud management.

The authors found Wilhelm’s fraud management framework the most promising for adaptation and application to the first party fraud context. By modifying an existing framework according to the contextual requirements, the authors make the framework much more relevant to first party fraud management.

The framework could help retail managers better understand and manage this growing business problem and open new streams for further research.

This research also makes an important contribution by proposing a framework and by helping bridge a glaring and problematic gap in existing literature and opening up new streams of research.

The purpose of this study is to address two issues relevant to those managing product returns: (1) how customers perceive the returning process and assessing the extent that these perceptions have on satisfaction with the organization, loyalty and word-of-mouth (WOM) and (2) are these outcomes moderated by whether customer returns were planned or unplanned?

The data consisted of 21 semi-structured interviews (pilot study) and a quantitative survey (n = 384; main study) targeted at consumers who had bought fashion items online.

Qualitative insights revealed that perceptions of the returning experience are driven by monetary costs, convenience, stress and guilt. Quantitative findings showed that the returning experience explains return satisfaction for both planned and unplanned returners, and returning satisfaction explains overall satisfaction and WOM. The noteworthy difference concerns loyalty: although customers that planned to return items are more loyal to the organization, it is the unplanned returners whose loyalty can be significantly increased by better managing the returning process.

Returning products online is increasingly common and thus forms an important part of the customer's overall experience with an organization. Returns management can therefore drive key customer outcomes. Understanding the dynamics between the product return experience, return satisfaction and customer outcomes will help practitioners design and implement more informed returns management strategies. Measures are also presented that assess the cognitive and emotional aspects associated with returning products.

Returning products is an increasingly important challenge for online retailers. Understanding what kinds of returning behaviors occur allows companies to design and execute better informed decisions to manage this phenomenon, not only for the sake of firm performance but also for societal and environmental benefits – the triple bottom line.

While scholars have investigated the relationship between return policies (e.g. free vs fee) and profitability, no prior literature has examined the returning experience: how consumers perceive the returning process; motivations for their returns (whether returns were planned or not) and subsequent customer outcomes.

The distribution literature provides support for examining product returns from a customer-based perspective. Based on this need, the purpose of this paper is to identify the underlying causes of product returns based on a survey of 308 Wal-Mart and Target customers who engaged in product returns.

Structural equation modelling was used to verify and test the relationships examined.

It was found that dissatisfaction with a product results in an emotional dissonance that is positively related to product returns. Two primary reasons for return were examined, the expectation of the customer not being met and the customer finding a better product or price. Both reasons for return were found to influence the frequency of returns. It is also reported that gender, but not store brand moderated these relationships. Males had higher levels of product dissatisfaction and subsequent emotional dissonance than females. Males however did not have higher rates of return than females.

The research provides new knowledge in the management of retail returns by identifying their underlying causes as well as specific reasons for returns. This knowledge can assist managers in identifying the behavioural influences on product returns and in developing methods to minimize those returns.

The purpose of this paper is to reveal how mental models inherited from offline retailing have impeded both the theory and practice of online retailing, and to suggest fruitful areas of research in online retailing.

The mental models of physical retail suggest physical constraints of various sorts, and yet for the most part, the constraints acting upon the e‐tailer are instead logical, symbolic and cognitive.

Researchers in e‐tailing could benefit from pursuing a set of interesting issues including assortment, customer‐to‐customer value creation, site design and structure, and the importance of network topology.

There are many new topics in retailing that can be explored by marketers, as long as we are willing to jettison some of our cherished terminology and ways of thinking. In effect, online, the retailing mix becomes human‐centric, rather than focusing on physical components.

The skill sets needed to set up an e‐tailing presence are substantially different than those required for offline retailing.

The paper takes an unconventional view of the retailing literature, literature that goes back to the foundation of marketing as an academic discipline.

This study aims to understand the relationships among relationship quality, repurchase intention, word-of-mouth and the moderation effect of the loyalty program.

Base on social exchange theory and trust commitment theory, the study hypothesizes that relationship quality is a multidimensional construct consisting of trust, satisfaction, commitment and perceived value. Relationship quality is posited to influence word-of-mouth, and this relationship is mediated by the repurchase intention. Loyalty program is expected to moderate the relationship between independent and dependent variables. Data were collected through online survey and mall intercept in North Island of New Zealand. 144 responses were obtained and were analyzed through SEM.

The findings support a multidimensional construct for relationship quality; however, the moderation effect of the loyalty program was insignificant.

This study helps to understand the relationship quality in the e-tailing industry. Theoretical and practical implications are finally discussed.

The purpose of this study was to find different effects of e‐tailer attributes on consumer attitude in fashion product purchase situations according to e‐tailer types.

A quantitative study with a survey method was adopted to test the significance of the paths which construct the structural equation model.

As a result of the study, e‐tailers were classified into three types: comprehensive mall, fashion specialty mall, and limited brand mall. In addition three attribute dimensions were derived from the statistical analyses: transaction fulfillment, variety, and accessibility. Transaction fulfillment and variety were the critical dimensions for the comprehensive mall and the limited brand mall, whereas variety was the only significant dimension for the fashion specialty mall. According to the multi‐group comparison, it was found that similar strategic implications can be applied to comprehensive and limited brand malls.

The variety dimension be further researched. With variety being equally important for all of the e‐tailer types, specific sub‐dimensions need to be identified.

The paper provides value in classifying the e‐tailer type and investigating the attributes.

This study aims to investigate the impact of perceived value on customer intention to use the internet as a retailing platform and, more specifically, the impact that perceived value (comprising functional, social, emotional and epistemic values) has on Taiwanese customer intention to conduct the two distribution channel functions, i.e. information collection and order placement, through the internet.

A total of 295 usable survey responses were collected in the main commuter district of Taipei, Taiwan.

The findings indicate that both functional and epistemic values have a significant impact on information collection and order placement. Nevertheless, social value has an impact only on information collection, whereas emotional value has a significant impact only on order placement.

The aforementioned issue has rarely been researched but is essential to the development of a channel of distribution theory and is of immediate relevance to marketing practices. The paper pioneers the study of the impact of perceived value in this context work that empirically investigated such an issue.