The Impact of Product Returns on Direct Marketing Practices at BT Group PLC

By

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank to my supervisor supporting me throughout my project and giving his valuable suggestions. Finally thanks to all my friends and family for their utmost support and inspiration.

DECLARATION

I, [type your full first names and surname here] , would like to declare that all contents included in this dissertation stand for my individual work without any aid, & this dissertation has not been submitted for any examination at academic as well as professional level previously. It is also representing my very own views & not essentially which are associated with university.

Signed __________________ Date _________________

ABSTRACT

Product returns are an important and necessary part of the exchange process between companies and customers. There are even cases where certain product lines have seen return rates of over 25%. Due to ever-increasing pressure from top management to justify marketing expenditures, measuring and maximizing customer value is an important topic for marketing academics and practitioners. A firm's ability to formulate and implement a different set of strategic actions could be considered as ways to utilize such dynamic managerial capability. The primary aim of this research will be to highlight the impact of product returns on the direct marketing practices employed by the BT Group PLC, a leading British firm, engaged in the telecommunication sector. Our results indicate that BT Group can send brochures designed in a very attractive way, to market luxurious brands that it offers. Another important reason to support this direct marketing is that BT Group is primarily positioned as a reasonable price. If they would market themselves to attract customers with high income, they must incorporate the element of luxury in their advertisement. To attract low income customers, BT Group can do coupon advertisement. Customers with low income get attracted by these advertisements.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTII

DECLARATIONIII

ABSTRACTIV

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Background1

Direct Marketing1

Are Product Returns Necessary Evils?5

The Influence of Marketing, Buying, and Product Returns5

Problem statement6

Porter's Five Forces Analysis of BT7

Aim9

Objectives9

Research Questions10

Scope of the Study10

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVEW11

Product Returns and Customer Behaviour12

The Antecedents and Consequences of Product Returns13

A Conceptual Model of Marketing, Buying, and Product Returns15

Describing and Assessing Direct Marketing Sales Effectiveness16

A Different Approach16

Reason for Adopting Different Approach16

Direct Marketing17

Methods of direct marketing18

Brand loyalty20

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY21

Research Method21

Research Design21

Sampling22

Instrument23

Data Analysis Procedures23

Reliability25

Validity25

Ethical Measures26

Underlying assumption28

Informed Consent28

Confidentiality28

CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION30

The Relationship of Product Returns to Customer Buying Behavior30

Product Return Policies32

Conditional Dependence between Past Buying and Current Returns33

Customer Heterogeneity34

Legal, Ethical, Cultural and Technological Implications35

Importance of a brand image36

Disparaging Wage Labour37

Residual Income38

Leadership Implications at BT39

Broader Social Significance of Study Results40

Recommendations to Leaders and Stakeholders42

Strategic Actions and Environmental Changes44

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION47

Summary48

REFERENCES52

APPENDIX A57

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Background

With the development in direct marketing comes not only the potential for an overall increase in the number of product returns, but also the likelihood of increasingly complicated product returns (Dyson, 2007, 75). While traditional marketers are familiar to product returns and have long had the procedures in place to handle them, many ecommerce retailers are unprepared to deal with product returns because they are unfamiliar with the total ...