Abstract Managing customer returns is a crucial issue for the retailing industry. In this paper, we develop a model to investigate a monopolistic retailer's customer returns management strategy. The retailer should determine its returns policy: a money-back guarantee (MBG) or no-refund. If an MBG returns policy is offered, the retailer must also decide whether or not to sell the returned products as open-box products. We derive the optimal pricing strategy for each of the returns strategies and identify the retailer's optimal customer returns management strategy. We show when the retailer should implement each of the returns policies, and when it should sell the returned products as open-box products. We also show that even when the retailer cannot handle customer returns efficiently, it could choose to offer an MBG returns policy and sell returned products as open-box products, if the cost of inspecting returned items is low. Finally, we show that the retailer can simplify the choice of returns management strategy based on identifiable quantities and threshold values. The implications of this study are also discussed.

中文翻译：

---

通过销售退回产品的选项来管理客户退货策略

摘要 管理客户退货是零售业的一个关键问题。在本文中，我们开发了一个模型来研究垄断零售商的客户退货管理策略。零售商应确定其退货政策：退款保证 (MBG) 或不退款。如果提供 MBG 退货政策，零售商还必须决定是否将退货产品作为开箱产品出售。我们为每个退货策略推导出最优定价策略，并确定零售商的最优客户退货管理策略。我们展示了零售商何时应实施各项退货政策，以及何时应将退回的产品作为开箱产品进行销售。我们还表明，即使零售商无法有效处理客户退货，如果检查退回物品的成本较低，它可以选择提供 MBG 退货政策并将退回的产品作为开箱产品出售。最后，我们表明零售商可以简化基于可识别数量和阈值的退货管理策略的选择。还讨论了这项研究的意义。