Project overview
Product returns cost UK retailers over £7 billion annually and consume substantial resources, which inflicts sizeable environmentally harmful emissions. Many returned items are often discarded because the condition of these items or operational/financial constraints thwart resale. A new solution called peer-to-peer (P2P) returns shipping has been recently introduced in North America, which enables customers to return unwanted fashion items directly to other customers. It eliminates returns transportation to the warehouse/stores and repackaging. The retailers provide a discount for the next customer and manage the returns process. Surprisingly, this solution has not yet been applied in the UK market and has not received any scholarly attention regarding the potential barriers that might inhibit this approach. To accelerate the achievement of the UK government's net-zero targets, this research project aims to investigate consumer perspectives on whether P2P product returns can be applied in the UK market to reduce environmental impacts. Furthermore, this study also aims to examine whether the degree of acceptance for P2P product returns might vary between product types (e.g., fashion and electronic products).
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