International Journal of Sales & Marketing

Management Research and Development (IJSMMRD)

ISSN(P): 2249-6939; ISSN(E): 2249-8044
Vol. 6, Issue 3, Jun 2016, 1 - 6
TJPRC Pvt. Ltd

A STUDY TO IDENTIFY CUSTOMERS ONLINE APPAREL SHOPPING

BEHAVIOR IN RELATION TO RETURN POLICIES OF E-COMMERCE
BUSINESSES, W. R. TO PUNE REGION, INDIA
SARIKA PUNEKAR1 & R GOPAL2
1

Research Scholar, D Y Patil University, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

2

Professor, D Y Patil University, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

ABSTRACT
The evolution of E-commerce has a considerable brunt on the sales of apparels. The wide ranges of apparels
with different styles, hues and sizes which are available to the customers cover the entire demographics. The cheapest
and a convenient mode to buy such apparels which is catching up the vibes of youngsters and busy class today is internet
via online shopping. The existence of multiple E-commerce businesses has incepted the oscillations with different cost
for a different brand in the behavior of customers. E-shopping is one of the suitable ways to purchase the apparels
without tactile reception can be futile at times with respect to customer satisfaction. Consequently the unsatisfied
customers look for options to return the purchased goods back to the organization. The IT hub of Maharashtra, Pune,

KEYWORDS: Return Policy, E-commerce, Apparel Sector, Customer Behavior

Received: Apr 21, 2016; Accepted: May 07, 2016; Published: May 23, 2016; Paper Id.: IJSMMRDJUN201601

INTRODUCTION

Original Article

prefer online shopping as they are tech savvy and the area is densely occupied by migrants PAN India.

Product return conditions play an important role as its a critical component of customer service in retail
environment (Yalabik et al 2005). It has been observed that several relationships exist in online selling
environment. Customers avail a great amount of leniency to purchase the product.
The customers are confident when the purchase is guarded with a feature of returning the goods in case it
does not satisfy the needs of the customer. The return policy boosts the risk bearing ability of purchasing the
product online. This gives a perfect opportunity for the E-commerce businesses that causes a significant change in
buying behavior.
Customers are reluctant to purchase when E-tailers do not offer protection mechanism; therefore, return
services are more important for E-shopping than for traditional shopping (Yalabil Et al 2005). Customers enjoy
the comfort of delivery at a convenient location.

Therefore customer satisfaction and the risk associated play a

critical role in the buying behavior.

LITERATURE REVIEW
The Purpose of this research is to understand how return policies of E-commerce businesses affect the
customers purchase and Return behavior.
Dhruv Grewal (2014) every day, millions of retailers, from all over the world, offer up products and

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Sarika Punekar & R Gopal

services to their billions of Customers. In most countries, retailers and retailing simply dominate the economy. Giant
retailers such as Walmart even generate more revenue (in this case, more than $400 billion) than many countries. To
achieve this position, retailers have had to exploit the resources at their disposal to offer strategies that provide unique
customer benefits in an ever-changing environment. In turn, researchers have worked to understand a range of strategic
retailing issues, through a host of theoretical and methodological lenses, and using a vast variety of data collection methods
from proprietary panels and longitudinal studies to lab experiments and field studies to firm-level data sets.
Each study in this collection provides unique insights into several strategic retail issues, including operating stores
in an uncertain environment, managing the store environment and its merchandise, integrating multiple channels, and
developing optimal return policies. Their insights help clarify how Customers respond to a constantly changing retail
environment and to various strategies adopted by the many retailers in the market today.
Ma, Ailawadi, Gauri, and Grewal (2011) rely on panel data from IRI to describe how Customer shopping
behavior changed over a three-year period in response to uncertainty in the marketplace, manifested in radically changing
gasoline prices. Their results demonstrate that Customers faced with rising gas prices seek to reallocate their spending and
minimize their travel time by purchasing more from supercenters rather than traditional grocery stores. To save money,
they also shop for more private labels (versus national brands) and take more advantage of promotions
(versus buying merchandise at regular prices).
Morales and Nowlis (2013), using both experiments and a field study, explore these details, in the form of
merchandise presentation cues (organized versus disorganized, availability). Their results reveal that for food products,
well-organized, well-stocked shelves increase sales, whereas disorganization and limited quantities in these product
categories not only grab Customers' attention but also cause them to feel disgust. Such negative responses are a food
retailer's biggest nightmare. For non-ingested products though, no such effects arise.
Kushwaha and Shanker (2013) take on another familiar retail mantra and strategy: the notion that multichannel
customers are more valuable. To do so, they examine whether the value of a customer's purchases depend on the channel
(e.g., traditional, electronic, multichannel) or on product category characteristics (e.g., hedonic versus utilitarian). Contrary
to the conventional wisdom though, multichannel customers are more valuable only in hedonic categories, not for
utilitarian categories.
Limitations of the Study
The research was specifically focused on the apparel purchase and return behavior of customers. The respondents
region was restricted to Pune. The findings of this research may be region specific.

OBJECTIVES

To study the impact of Return Policies on purchasing behavior of Customers.

To study the perceived return policies in relation to Apparel sector. To understand the level of
satisfaction of Return Policies offered by E-commerce Businesses among customer.

Impact Factor (JCC): 5.7836

NAAS Rating: 3.13

A Study to Identify Customers Online Apparel Shopping Behavior in Relation

to Return Policies of E-Commerce Businesses, W.R. to Pune Region, India

Hypothesis
H01: There is no significant impact of Return Policies on purchasing behavior of Customers
H11: There is a significant impact of Return Policies on purchasing behavior of Customer
H02: There is no significant level of satisfaction of Return Policies among Customer
H12: There is a significant level of satisfaction of Return Policies among Customers
Data Analysis
Problems of associated with online purchasing of Apparels

Figure 1: Problems Associated with Online Purchasing of Apparels

It has been observed that 62% customers feel that it is difficult and cumbersome to return the purchase items, 22%
dislike sharing payment information, 11% have the opinion that it is time consuming process to return the product and
receive it back after many follow ups, while 4% opine that the delievery charges or cost of shipping is too high.
Possible Risks Involved While Returning the Items

.
Figure 2: Possible Risks Involved while returning the items
Customers who are confident and satisfied with the online shopping, 52% of the respondent assume that Financial
Risk is involved in returning while 33% are under impression that Product Risk is involved and 15% assume that it is
Security Risk involved.

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Sarika Punekar & R Gopal

Satisfaction Level with Return Policy of E-Tailers

Figure 3: Satisfaction Level with Return Policy of E-Trailers

It has been observed that 39% respondents are in ambivalent stage, whereas 8% are extremely satisfied.
Preferred Easy to Understand Return Policy of Choice

Figure 4: Preference Towards Lenient and Clear Return Policy

The study shows that customers who experience a Free Based Returns are more likely to purchase more with
same E-tailer than a customer who experiences a Fee based product return. 35% of the respondents preferred to Shop more
often with same E-tailer, while 24% of the respondents preferred to change the E-tailer with a less easy return policy, 11%
preferred to Recommend to a friend, 10% Focused more on their quality of services than price, and 20% of the respondent
preferred to accept all the parameters.

CONCLUSIONS
The research findings indicate that, the return policy has severe impact on purchase behavior of E-customers of
Pune region. The most important findings are that customer prefer shopping more with website who provides clear and
Lenient return policies. As it can stimulate customers demands and correspondingly increase sales. The customers level of
satisfaction has negative relationship with Return policies offered by E-commerce businesses.

Impact Factor (JCC): 5.7836

NAAS Rating: 3.13

A Study to Identify Customers Online Apparel Shopping Behavior in Relation

to Return Policies of E-Commerce Businesses, W.R. to Pune Region, India

RECOMMENDATIONS
The recommendations for the organization engaged in E-commerce needs to focus on the risk associated in return
policy and to make the process convenient, easy, and safe and secured to return the purchase items.
In addition to this the E-commerce business should implement the lenient return policies to maximize the customer
retention thereby elevate or increase the profitability and increase the customer base.
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editor@tjprc.org

Sarika Punekar & R Gopal

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Impact Factor (JCC): 5.7836

NAAS Rating: 3.13