Reselling Returns as New: The Economic and Environmental Implications

报告摘要：Dueto increasing concerns about waste generation, many e-tailers now resellreturned items that have no quality issues as new. However, customers whoreceive these resold products may exhibit psychological discomfort andvaluation discounts. In this study, we explore the interplay among thee-tailer’s social awareness about waste generation, customers’ uncertaintyabout product valuation in online shopping and their concerns about receivingreturned items sold as new. We examine how they affect the e-tailer’s adoptionof reselling returns as new and the customers’ purchasing and return decisions.Our analysis shows that, compared with disposing of all returns, resellingeligible returns as new can lead to a “win-win-win” outcome for the e-tailer,customers, and the environment. However, educating customers about thesustainability benefits of reselling returns and urging e-tailers to prioritizewaste reduction might inadvertently undermine this win-win-win outcome.Furthermore, under certain conditions, reselling returns can actually increasewaste generation. Paradoxically, educating customers about the sustainabilityof reselling returns might even exacerbate the environmental impact. Ourresearch highlights the critical roles of the e-tailer’s environmental concernsand customers’psychological valuation discount about receiving returnedproducts in shaping the e-tailer’s adoption of the strategies for resellingreturns. Yulan Wang is a full professor and associated head (research) of the Department of the Logistics and Maritime Studies at Faculty of Business of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She has a broad research interest in operations and supply chain management, behavioral operations, and operations-IS-marketing interface. Her research work has been published in leading academic journals such as Management Science, Operations Research, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, and Production and Operations Management. Dr Wang serves as a senior editor of Production and Operations Management and an associate editor of Decision Sciences, Naval Research Logistics and Omega. She currently serves as the president of POMS-HK Chapter.