We are a team of academics working with retailers and manufacturers to explore ways to streamline returns processes, assess returns' true costs, influence customer behaviour, and make returns more sustainable using circular economy concepts. We work along three streams of returns: 

​

Product returns management: 

​

The ground-laying project (2016-2019) was conducted by the University of Portsmouth on behalf of the ECR Community Shrink and On-shelf Availability group (now called ECR Retail Loss group). Our growing cross-institutional research group has emerged from it, with academics working on various streams of research relating to product returns.
​

In 2020-2022, at the University of Southampton, we had an ESRC-funded project on understanding and modelling the factors that drive product returns and returns fraud. Results from this project include our analysis of factors that drive product returns and mitigating measures retailers can take, discussed in this paper. 

​

Fraudulent product returns: 

​

We started by exploring the different types of product returns fraud and how retailers can combat them through eliminating opportunities and targeted interventions. This is published in "Understanding fraudulent returns and mitigation strategies in multichannel retailing. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services" (Zhang et al., 2022). 

​​

In "Consumer perspectives on interventions to combat fraudulent product returns in omnichannel fashion retail" (Merlano et al., 2024), we considered consumers as potentially opportunistic fraudsters and interrogated their perception of the most effective ways for retailers to discourage returns fraud. 

​

Our most recent study investigates the most effective ways for retailers to communicate with customers to make them aware of counter-fraud systems in place. 

​

Sustainability and circularity in product returns: 

​

A first discussion of the un-sustainability of product returns and how to improve this aspect was published in "Sustainable reverse supply chains and circular economy in multichannel retail returns" (Frei et al., 2020). 

​

This was followed by "Strategies and practices to reduce the ecological impact of product returns: an environmental sustainability framework for multichannel retail" (Zhang et al., 2023). 

​

Our latest project (2023-2024) investigated how companies can assess circular business opportunities and is funded by CIMA, the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. As part of our CIMA project, we recently published a paper that explores how to guide organisations in exploring and assessing their transition to more sustainable and circular business models: "The circularity radar: a digital tool for SMEs to assess circular opportunities" (Merlano et al, 2024). A CIMA report presenting the key findings of this project is expected to appear in January 2025. 

​
​​
 

Our work is catching media attention!

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

• BBC One - Politics South: Regina, at the time Associate Professor of Digital Economy at the University of Surrey, was invited to join BBC's Peter Henley and his guests, Dame Caroline Dinenage MP, Conservative MP for Gosport, and Olivia Bailey, Labour candidate for Reading West and Mid Berkshire, to discuss the issue of product returns. The conversation explored how laws and regulations should be changed to encourage retailers to declare the costs and impact of returns, for consumers to make informed decisions on their purchases. This episode aired on Sunday 3 March 2024 and is available on YouTube. 
   
• BBC Radio 4 - The Bottom Line:  Regina was invited to join host Evan Davis and his guests, Robert Kulawik (COO, Everything5pounds.com) and Andy Rough (CEO, ACS Clothing), to discuss product returns. This episode aired on 25 January 2024 and is available on iPlayer and here.  
   
• Regina was featured in print media articles published in the BBC Worklife, The Guardian, The Sunday Times, Vogue Business (pdf), Drapers, Internet Retailing (1), Internet Retailing (2), the Southern Daily Echo and Medium. 
   
• At the Reverse Logistics Association's Annual EMEA Summit 2022 in Amsterdam, Regina delivered a keynote speech on product returns. 
   
• Product returns were also discussed in podcasts where Regina featured, such as ChainReaction. More to follow!