TRENDS IN LOGISTICS IN THE GERMAN E-COMMERCE AND THE PARTICULAR RELEVANCE OF MANAGING PRODUCT RETURNS

Background: There are several trends in logistics Internet retailers have to face nowadays, e.g. addressing and reaching customers through different sales channels (multi- or cross-channel management), integration of new payment alternatives (combined online and/or mobile payment methods), ordering and delivery of products from an Internet retailer at the same day (same-day delivery), and allowing product returns (management of product returns). Here the question is, whether relevant factors influencing the buying behaviour of online shoppers as well as groups of these can be found.
 Methods:  Our contribution is analysing this area in two ways. On the hand, an overview about these major trends and the German e-commerce market will be given. On the other hand, the particular relevance of managing product returns will be discussed and through findings from an empirical investigation of German online shoppers expanded.
Results: Four relevant factors influencing the behavior of online shoppers could be identified. Applying these four factors four different groups of online shoppers can be differentiated.