••• shopper insights
Retailers reap goodwill from returnless returns
As some online retailers explore instituting returnless return strategies, a recent study shows that they can pay off in the form of increased loyalty and good feelings toward the brand.
Outlined in the Journal of Marketing Research article, “Just keep it: When and why returnless product returns foster brand support,” study authors found that while blanket returnless policies may seem to hold more appeal for the consumer, policies implemented on a case-by-case basis were actually more effective – thanks to the interaction they require.
“Drawing from our theory that offering returnless product returns boosts brand support because they increase brand warmth, we find that returnless policies implemented on a case-by-case basis are actually more effective for a couple of reasons,” says co-author John Costello, assistant professor of marketing at Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. “The consumer feels they are getting special treatment. Also, because they are getting human interaction rather than an automatic e-mail, the customer feels additional warmth toward the brand. So, increasing the level of ‘humanness’ in digital interactions has proven beneficial.”
Suggesting that customers donate the kept product also boosts perceived brand warmth and support, as does providing reasons that articulate the brand’s desire to put the customer first in its product return processes.
••• food research
Price powers acceptance of plant-based meat
A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, “Substitution patterns and price response for plant-based meat alternatives,” found that the price of meat alternatives is the most decisive factor for their acceptance, while similarity to meat did not matter that much.
In experiments with 2,100 U.S. consumers, the researchers found that when meat and non-meat options are priced at parity, price has little influence on choice but when meat substitutes were significantly less expensive than their animal counterparts, they observed a noticeable change in consumer behavior. Lowering the price of the analogue burger by 10%, for example, led to an expected 14% increase in sales. If the alternatives were about half of the price of the meat burger, the number of people opting for a plant-based alternative would double.
Interestingly, even though men are the more dedicated meat eaters, the online survey found that an attractive price makes them more willing than women to change their behavior. Even those who had never tried a meat substitute before would opt for it if they could benefit from a price advantage.