製造商的退貨策略與產品線設計

The Manufacturer's Returns Policy and Quality Design of Its Product Line

10.6226/NTURM2002.13.1.31

周善瑜(Shan-Yu Chou)；鄭士蘋(Shih-Ping Jeng)

退貨保證 ； 產品線設計 ； 區隔效果 ； Returns Policies ； Product Line Design ； Screening

臺大管理論叢

13卷1期（2002 / 12 / 01）

31 - 65

繁體中文

廠商對顧客提供退貨保證，在實務上已日益普遍。本研究以賽局分析的方法探討當一獨佔廠商設計並銷售不同品質的產品給不同品質偏好的市場區隔時，提供退貨保證對其目標行銷與產品線設計的影響，並據此推導廠商的最適退貨策略。我們發現在「兩產品一兩市場區隔」的狀況下，如果高品質偏好的市場區隔較低品質偏好的市場區隔有較高的退貨成本峙，廠商對低端產品提供退貨保證，可以降低高品質偏好顧客購買低端產品的誘因，緩和產品線的競蝕問題，使區隔顧客變得比較容易。廠商的最適退貨策略，即視此一區隔顧客的效果與退貨的效率性而定。當區隔顧客的效果夠大峙，即使退貨殘值低於顧客的退貨成本（退貨不具效率性），廠商仍將對低端產品提供退貨保證，此時為了強化區隔顧客的效果，廠商會降低低端產品的品質，拉大產品線上產品的品質差異，使目標行銷更容易達成。最後我們描述廠商在不同的參數條件下的最適退貨策略與其對應的產品品質。

Returns policies which allow consumers to return products for a refund are commonly offered by manufacturers. In this paper, we characterize the optimal returns policy for a manufacturer who designs a product line to serve several market segments with different preferences for quality. We find that when consumers with higher preferences for quality also have a higher cost of returns than consumers with lower preferences for quality, allowing returns for a low-end item discourages high-valuation consumers from purchasing that item and achieves better screening. When the screening effect is large enough, the manufacturer allows returns for the low-end item even though the returned good has no salvage value. To reinforce this effect, the manufacturer optimally lowers the quality of the low-end item and thus stretches the product line. Finally, under different conditions of parameters, we describe the manufacturer's optimal returns policies and the corresponding product qualities.

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