Probabilistic Selling Strategy with Customer Return Policy

Probabilistic selling is a marketing strategy that multi-item vendors provide to consumers, presenting discounted options through acceptance of uncertain risks with random selections from sets of multiple distinct items. However, past studies of this strategy assume a no return policy since returned items shift part of the mentioned uncertain risk to the retailer. Because returns are a common business practice and an important coordination tool in supply chains, this research identifies the impacts of a return policy on the efficacy of probabilistic selling models.