Customer Product Returns in Online Retail

Speaker: Prof. RONG Ying (Professor of Management Science at Shanghai Jiao Tong University)

Venue: Room 357/359, ZIBS Building, Haining Campus

Language: Chinese

Abstract: This talk explores customer returns in an online environment, comprising two distinct parts. The first part investigates the influence of live social interactions in livestream e-commerce. Live interactions, allowing real-time communication between streamers and customers, are believed to have a persuasive impact on product returns. Using data from a leading livestream e-commerce company, the study compares product returns in live sessions (featuring live social interactions) to rerun sessions (without such interactions). Econometric models estimate the impact of live social interaction intensity on returns. The results reveal that live sessions have higher return rates than rerun sessions, with the effect strengthening as interaction intensity increases. This confirms the persuasive role of live interactions in livestream e-commerce. The study also finds that the effect is more pronounced when streamers are experienced, assortment sizes are smaller, and product prices are lower. Increasing interaction intensity by one standard deviation can boost return rates by up to 8.59%, significant relative to average rates, with implications discussed.