APPROACHES REGARDING THE RETURN POLICY OF ONLINE RETAILERS

As consumers become increasingly aware of the conveniences of online shopping, their purchasing behavior becomes more complex as well. Online shoppers not only compare prices or delivery times, but also consider additional factors such as the retailers' return policies. Taking into consideration the inability of online customer to touch or feel the physical product, the retailers may use this policy in order to protect consumers against the possibility of product misfit. Thus, online retailer's return policy plays an important role in consumer purchase behavior. In this context, the purpose of this paper is twofold. The first goal is to analyze various theoretical approaches related to return policy of online retailers (e-tailers) and, secondly, this paper aims to present the findings of a research among undergraduate and master students from The Bucharest University of Economic Studies. The objectives of the survey were to identify the attitude of the young educated people regarding different aspects of the return policy of the e-tailers. The results outline that free of charge returning and availability of multiple options for returning an item bought online are the most important characteristics of return policy that count for online customersand, generally, they are satisfied with the return policies of the online stores.