Pricing and Return Strategies in Omni-Channel Apparel Retail Considering the Impact of Fashion Level

Yanchun Wan (), Zhiping Yan and Shudi Wang
Additional contact information
Yanchun Wan: Department of Electronic Business, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Zhiping Yan: Department of Electronic Business, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Shudi Wang: Department of Electronic Business, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China

Mathematics, 2025, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-42

Abstract: In the context of new retail, the development of omni-channels is flourishing. The entry threshold for the clothing industry is low, and the popularity of online shopping has, to some extent, reduced consumers’ perception of the authenticity of clothing. As a result, returns are a serious issue in the clothing industry. This article focuses on a clothing retailer while addressing retail and return issues in the clothing industry. It develops and analyzes models for an online single-channel strategy and two omni-channel showroom strategies: “Experience in Store and Buy Online (ESBO)” with an experience store and “Buy Online and Return in Store (BORS)” with a physical store. These models are used to examine the pricing and return decisions of the retailer in the three strategic scenarios. Additionally, this study considers the impact of fashion trends on demand. It explores pricing and return strategies in two showroom models under the influence of the fashion trend decay factor. Moreover, sensitivity analyses and numerical analyses of the important parameters are performed. This research demonstrates the following: (1) In the case of high return transportation costs and online return hassle costs, clothing retailers can attract consumers to increase profits through establishing offline channels; (2) extending the sales time of fashionable clothing has a positive effect on profits, but blindly prolonging the continuation of the sales time will lead to a decrease in profits; (3) the larger the initial fashion level or the smaller the fashion level decay factor, the greater the optimal retailer profits. The impacts of the initial fashion level and fashion level decay factor on profits are more significant in omni-channel operations. This article aims to identify optimal strategies for retailers utilizing omni-channel operations and offer managerial insights for the sale of fashionable apparel.

Keywords: omni-channel retail; showrooms; pricing strategy; return strategy; fashion level (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/13/5/890/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/13/5/890/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jmathe:v:13:y:2025:i:5:p:890-:d:1607100

Access Statistics for this article

Mathematics is currently edited by Ms. Emma He

More articles in Mathematics from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().