Syed Zain Ahmed

“Evaluating the impact of sustainable return logistics through E-commerce business in Karachi” Research Project / Thesis submitted By (Syed Zain Ahmed) -) To To Faculty of Business Administration In partial fulfilment of the requirement for the Degree of MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION In [Supply Chain Management] [Sir Manzoor Isran] Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology SZABIST, Karachi. Dated: June 02, 2022. i Appendix A1 -ORIGINAL LITERACY WORK DECLARATION FORM SZABIST, ORIGINAL LITERACY WORK DECLARATION STUDENT NAME: SYED ZAIN AHMED REGISTRATION:- NAME OF DEGREE: MBAE36-D TITLE OF PROJECT REPORT/THESIS: “Evaluating the impact of sustainable return logistics through E-commerce business in Karachi” I do solemnly and sincerely declare the 1. I am/We are the author/s of this work; 2. This work is original 3. Any use of any work in which copyright exists was done by way of fair dealing and for permitted purposes and any excerpt or extract from, or reference to or reproduction of any copyright work has been disclosed expressly and sufficiently and the title of the Work and its authorship have been acknowledged in this Work; I do not have any actual knowledge nor do I ought reasonably to know that the making of this work constitutes an infringement of any copyright work; ii 4. I hereby assign all and every right in the copyright to this Work to the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST) of who henceforth shall be owner of the copyright in this Work and that any reproduction or use in any form or by any means whatsoever is prohibited without the written consent of (SZABIST) having been first had and obtained; 5. I am fully aware that if in the course of making this work I have infringed any copyright whether intentionally or otherwise, I may be subject to legal action or any other action as may be determined by SZABIST. Candidate Signature Date iii Appendix A2 – CHECKLIST FOR FORMAT OF THESIS CHECKLIST Verified by the Candidate Verified by the Candidate 1.TITLE Front cover and title page of the research is according to guidelines given in the book 2. ABSTRACT In between 150 – 250 words 3. BINDING For the purpose of defense/presentation, 1 copy of research report/thesis. (Blue Binding). 4. FORMAT (a) Double-spacing for all sections. Single-spacing can be used for footnote, appendices, tables and diagrams. (b) Font type: Times New (c) Font size 12 for all text and font size 8 for footnotes. 5.WORD LIMIT- words 6. INDENT The indents of pages as follows. Top: 1.0 inch Right: 1.0 inch Left: 1.5 inch Bottom: 1.0 inch 7. PAGE NUMBERING (a) Font size 10; (b) All page numbers should be printed 1.0 cm from the bottom margin and placed on the right-hand side; iv (c) Roman numerals (i, ii, iii etc.) should be used in the Preface section; (d) The Title Page and the first page of the Preface should not be numbered. 8. Turnitin Must be less than 19 % and checked by Program Support Officer. v Appendix A3 - PLAGIARISM Verification Title: “Evaluating the impact of sustainable return logistics through E-commerce business in Karachi” Total Page: Student Name: Syed Zain Ahmed Registration ID:- Supervisor: Sir Manzoor Isran Program: MBA Faculty of Management Sciences This is to report that the above thesis was scanned for similarity detection. Process and outcome is given below. (Plagiarism maximum percentage allowed is 19% and no more than 5% from a single source): Software used Turnitin Date: Similarity Index: 11% Total word count: 6220 File Name: For_Plagirism_purpose.docx (123.57K) Digital Receipt No:- vi Supervisor-Student Meeting Record Form Semester: Spring 2022 Program: M B A Student Name: SYED ZAIN AHMED Student ID:- Thesis Title: “Evaluating the impact of sustainable return logistics through E-commerce business in Karachi” Supervisor Name: Sir Manzoor Isran Meeting 1 11 Mar-2022 Date and time Whatsapp * Medium of Communication Summary of Discussion I have messaged for the getting the approval regarding of my change in topic. Student Signature Supervisor Signature vii Meeting 2 17- Mar-2022 Date and time Whatsapp * Medium of Communication Summary of Discussion Have a conversation group call regarding the topic discussion Student Signature Supervisor Signature Meeting 3 21 Mar -2022 Date and time Whatsapp * Medium of Communication Summary of Discussion The changes made in the research topic and discussion regarding rest of my research. Student Signature Supervisor Signature viii Meeting 4 13 Apr -2022 Date and time Whatsapp * Medium of Communication Summary of Discussion Telephonic call regarding the discussion of questionnaire and research surveys. Student Signature Supervisor Signature Meeting 5 May 06-2022 Date and time Whatsapp * Medium of Communication Summary of Discussion I called my supervisor for concerting the Questionnaire confirmation go head. Student Signature Supervisor Signature ix Meeting 6 10-May-2022 Date and time Whatsapp * Medium of Communication Summary of Discussion I have contacted my supervisor regarding data collection responses. Student Signature Supervisor Signature Meeting 7 15-May-2022 Date and time Whatsapp * Medium of Communication Summary of Discussion I have contacted with my supervisor regarding spss test result guidelines. Student Signature Supervisor Signature x Meeting 8 27-May-2022 Date and time On campus * Medium of Communication Summary of Discussion I have visited the university for getting help in Spss test. Student Signature Supervisor Signature Note: Please add extra sheet for more than 5 meetings. Minimum 8 meeting are compulsory for each student. *Medium of Communication 1. Face to face 2. Telephone 3. E-mail 4. Facebook 5. WhatsApp 6. Video conferencing 7. Voice Chat 8. Other xi Abstract The main purpose of this study is to conduct the representation of ecommerce business to investigate the impact of sustainable return logistics on ecommerce business, data was pick from previous research papers. Quantitative method was chosen and responses was collected from sample of 100 surveyor while taking help from online surveys and questionnaire was adopted from previous research paper. I have tested my hypothesis with regression techniques with the help of smart pls software. The result findings tells that the sustainable return logistics have positive impact on all attributes of dimensions of return logistics, namely return policy, return avoidance, gatekeeping and disposition. The mediating variable is ecommerce. Key Words include: Return Logistics, E-commerce, Return Policy, Return Avoidance, Gatekeeping and Disposition xii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The research was supposed under the guidelines by supervisor Sir Manzoor Isran. I would like to thank to my supervisor who provided us the opportunity to conduct research. We thank our colleagues for support & amp; assist for remarks that greatly improved my document. I want to manifest my credit to Sir Manzoor Isran for sharing their pearls of sagacity with me, during the course of this research. I am very tremendously thankful to the above-mentioned persons for their comments on an earlier version of the document, although any errors which will occur it is our own and should not embarrass the reputation of this esteemed persons. xiii Table of Contents Appendix A1 -ORIGINAL LITERACY WORK DECLARATION FORM ............... ii Appendix A2 – CHECKLIST FOR FORMAT OF THESIS ...................................... iv Appendix A3 - PLAGIARISM Verification ................................................................ vi Supervisor-Student Meeting Record Form ................................................................ vii Abstract ....................................................................................................................... xii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.......................................................................................... xiii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................... 16 1.0 Key word include ............................................................................................... 16 1.1 History and Background ................................................................................... 16 CHAPTER: 2 LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................... 23 2.1 Sustainable Reverse Logistics: .......................................................................... 23 2.2 Reverse Logistics in E-commerce: ........................................................................ 23 2.3 Return Logistics Management .............................................................................. 24 2.4 Return logistics dimensions ................................................................................... 25 2.4.1 Return Policy: ..................................................................................................... 25 2.4.2 Return avoidance: ............................................................................................... 26 2.4.3 Gatekeeping: ....................................................................................................... 26 2.4.4 Disposition: ......................................................................................................... 27 2.5 Trend analysis of reverse logistics:........................................................................ 28 2.6 Hypothesis: ............................................................................................................ 31 2.7 Conceptual Framework: ........................................................................................ 32 CHAPTER: 3 METHODOLOGIES .......................................................................... 33 Variables: .................................................................................................................... 34 Dependent variable: .................................................................................................... 34 CHAPTER: 4 RESULTS ............................................................................................ 36 4.0 Frequencies: ....................................................................................................... 36 Table 4.1 ...................................................................................................................... 36 Table 4.2 ...................................................................................................................... 37 Table 4.3 ...................................................................................................................... 37 4.1 Reliability Testing: ............................................................................................ 38 4.2 Correlation: ........................................................................................................... 38 4.3 Regression: ......................................................................................................... 39 4.4 Summary of Hypothesis ........................................................................................ 41 CHAPTER: 5 CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................. 42 xiv 5.0 Discussion: ......................................................................................................... 42 6.0 Conclusion: ........................................................................................................ 44 7.0 Limitation and Future recommendations: ............................................................ 44 8.0 References: ......................................................................................................... 45 APPENDIX .................................................................................................................. 48 Appendix A2: PLAGIARISM REPORT ................................................................... 49 Appendix A3 Questionnaire ........................................................................................ 54 Appendix A4 SPSS DATA SHEET ............................................................................. 56 Variable View: ............................................................................................................. 56 Data View: ................................................................................................................... 57 xv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.0 Key word include • E-commerce • Return logistics • Return Policy • Return Avoidance • Disposition • Gatekeeping 1.1 History and Background In this paper we study on the report of the findings of the outcomes for supply chain management settlement and strategies of online business operation. The online business is defined as the free online platform which is available for free communication for the use of information exchange, commercial use of transactions and sharing of knowledge between the organizations. The main objective of research is to conduct on the internet as way of communication channel have been developed for business process and the decision taken from the management have created much in its infancy due to the lead time involved in the operations advertise on the factual analyses. The field which is formed from inter-organizational system is known as electronic data interchange (EDI) (Berisha-Namani, 2009). The main reason for conducting - this research is to study and archive the strategic developments from medium to long range plans in the supply 16 chain management for organization across the diversified range of industries. We often take an opinion regarding the unusual nature of warehouse which is used for the purpose of ecommerce most generally used by the issuer of modern advanced technological equipment and producer of such solutions. It envisages that to build the modern facility with modern technologies installed in it especially in the case of order picking. If we talk about in many cases the difference between the basic levels of warehouse serving the automobile spare parts markets and the warehouse which have the full control to manage the retail orders which are placed through electronic and modern gadgets. The e-commerce is defined as the mode of online buying or selling of the products through the internet. The market segments of ecommerce is divided into four major components like-wise through computers, tablets, smartphones and other small hand-held devices. We can buy several products through online mode like as buying the airline tickets, buying the smartphones, buying books, kitchen accessories, we can also buy the financial services like investing in stock, mutual fund and accessing the online banking portal. The role of internet it allows the hasty exchange of the instructions and availability of predictable data, easy role of accessing and coordinating among Trading to Trading (B2B) and Investing in stock, mutual funds and accessing the online banking portal. E-commerce is basically the online trading platform. The direct route façade the different set of opinion and challenges from the current retail network. These two networks are different from consumer types, operations of order achievement, cost arrangements, profit augmentations, priority in circulation, logistical specification, intention of service quality, degree of market penetration, approaching the demand/supply instructions, 17 and return of product policies. (Johnson & Whang, 2002). The e business competencies of the firm to use the internet technologies to share the instruction, -develop the instructions correspondent the activities in order to facilitate the interaction with the supplier and customers. The traditional modes of communication are the phone and fax these two modes are still used by most of the companies in order to do the business with the supplier and the customers. As the world is changing the new and modern techniques are taking place the companies are shifting towards ecommerce and with modern internet technologies in their supply chain. (Devaraj et al., 2007). If we talk about the crucial policy that is approaching over supply chain controller is the issue of sustainability of the organization, firms are now being held culpable for the environmental impact and communal performance of the ecosystem they create. This burden is not only from the governmental rules and regulations. (Dutta et al., 2020) It is divided into following segment. Sustainability: If we interlink with the efficiency of the supply chain. The fiscal concept is always available before the approach sustainability and this is what the reason most of the companies have been focusing on. Looking for the advantage in the situation of supply is actually the cut back the costs 1.0 Problem Statement: Evaluating the impact of sustainable return logistics through e-commerce business. 1.1 Research Question:  What is the impact of return policy on ecommerce?  What is the impact of return avoidance on ecommerce?  What is the impact of gatekeeping on ecommerce? 18  What is the impact of disposition on ecommerce?  What is the impact of ecommerce on sustainable return logistics management?  What is the impact of gatekeeping on return logistics? 1.2 Research Objective:  To find out the impact of return policy on ecommerce business.  To find out the impact of return avoidance on ecommerce business.  To find out the impact of gatekeeping on ecommerce business.  To find out the impact of disposition on ecommerce business.  To find out the impact of ecommerce on sustainable return logistics.  To find out the impact of gatekeeping on return logistics. 19 1.3 Justification: I have justified my statement from the following three points:  Different e business industry which are operating their functions in Pakistan they are working to improve their return logistics system through e commerce business.  Do companies are maintaining their return logistics strong enough to handle any types of return.  This research will give direct benefit to the companies such as: trust level of customers will increase, the brand image of the product will become positive, and it will help to increase the market penetration. 1.4 Limitations: I have conducted this research only on ecommerce companies and working on some dimensions of reverse logistics like return policy, disposition, return avoidance, and gatekeeping my research is only based in Karachi. I have limited my target audience and constraint my audience due to limited in resources. 1.5 Definition of Key Words: E-commerce: The term ecommerce is basically depending on the trade model and it boost in decades. The term ecommerce is defined as the corresponding the transaction which take place over the internet constitutional using automated technology. It associate transaction such procuring, merchandising, change belongings, dawning, and instruction. The component of ecommerce is that opportunity of 24/7 and craving of operational practices. Ecommerce is basically categorized into two segments, trade to trade (B2B) and Trade to patron (BSC). In the last two period it 20 has been adapted towards conventional retailing towards online retailing. (Saldic, 2020). Return Logistics Management: Return logistics management is defined as the procedure which are linked with the return, preservation, repair, dismantling, repossession of the product and their parts. It combines with the repeal of the functioning products through the supply chain in order to get the maximum amount. The author said that it is the element of the supply chain that included the return, reverse logistics, gatekeeping and avoidance. Rebound management is basically branched into two character strategic and operational fundamentals. (Saldic, 2020) Reverse Logistics: The reverse logistics is basically defined as returning the product from downstream towards upstream which were basically ordered online channel platform from customer to vendors. If we talk about the process flow of reverse logistics of ecommerce it has a completely diverse economics obliged an absolutely different development solution. The mechanism the retailer is following forward and downward progress of products approaching the customer, merchant in order to achieve the economies of scale, projection related to the commodity dimensions and the quantities more perfectly because of the estimated requirement. (Żuchowski, 2020). To face the environmental issues and it helps to handle the product around its life cycle, companies revolve the reverse logistics a process of planning requisition and control adequate flow of products, materials and information from utilization point to origin point of incomes and reusable. Supply chain is known as closed loop acceptation supply chain because it focuses on application of supply chain from material manufacturing till material expire (Alnoor et al., 2019). The reverse logistics 21 assistance includes commodity delivery and betterment so that it can be depleted, remodeled reindustrialized, recycled or biased. Reverse logistics movement are very important because it can help to stop decomposition and sustain energy. Therefore, they may lead to resilience and green manufacturing, nowadays, organization tend to shift combination from product earning to logistics and reverse supply chain of import of supply chain (Alnoor et al., 2019) 22 CHAPTER: 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Sustainable Reverse Logistics: A compelling value of sustainable supply chain research has been assisted as long as various sustainability symbol related economic condition for legislative agreement making in supply chain management & application management in particular. If we compare the comprehensive research with environmental, social especially economic condition is considered as the main critical path of sustainable reverse logistics. (Bal & Satoglu, 2018) An author proposed a model of multi objective it aims to reduce the basic material and the transportation cost and goal is to reduce the radiation of CO2 gas. This study is basically helps out the companies in order to gain the profit, better developing customer responsiveness time and quality standard. The author has developed the return balanced packaging model to reduce and sarcastic the cost and efficiently using of resources. There are two types of inventories, rebounded inventory, serviceable inventory was taken into examination. Three integrities were conferred with the rebound products and reproduction was carried on the first detached to amend the cost function. Another objective was to amend the fill rate for example division of demand that could be contented from hand. The numerous goals treated is to reduce the actual current cost, reducing the environmental impacts and better social responsibility. (Dutta et al., 2020) 2.2 Reverse Logistics in E-commerce: The ecommerce is basically authentic as allocation of business data, allegation of business communication of managing business parleying, settling and accomplishing compliance by means of publicity platforms, through the source of internet, in order to achieve business proceedings. (Saldic, 2020) The author says 23 that it has a relationship between reverse logistics and information mechanics to consider all of this thing in the retrieve of E-commerce operation. RL in e-commerce over the past years argued that the benevolent return policy. Boost the revenue but at the carbon time would increase over cost due to product return. The author has developed an earning maximization figure in order to gain the excellent approach for price and return method. According to the author Ramanathan in (2011) concluded through factual analysis that manipulation of commodity return playa an important factor in improvement in customer loyalty for both low exposure products and high exposure products but not for commodity that display medium altitude of risk. The author which has explained and provide the recommendation and expert solutions to collect from the city-wide e-commerce reverse flows. This explanation tries to provide the advantage of addition of storing capacity and consistent flexibility of taxis to compile the returned products from the purchaser and hand over the same to the retailer. In the congregation authority the options are available to the retailers to outsource this business on the other hand taxi driver will get a chance to earn more payment by doing little bit more exercise. If we discuss the reverse logistics model network design with e commerce organization to collect and dismantle the return products. (Das et al., 2020) 2.3 Return Logistics Management If we define reverse logistics, it is mandatory to determine and make it clarify what return is actually. The most important thing is to generate a comprehensive picture of how returns are link with reverse logistics. As describing the definition of supply chain assembly, it shapes those returns are the activity correlated with returning or obtaining the returned products for any reason. These operations expand into post-delivery customer carry. The author relates that the 24 interpretate the return mainly targets on the natural flow of products. It is basically not compelling management activities. (Saldic, 2020). 2.4 Return logistics dimensions This study tells us the effect of four dimensions of return logistics management. 2.4.1 Return Policy: The objective of a company come back management generally lay the authority for the return policy. Return policies determine to facilitate to help the company to manage its return management goals, or slightly help them on the path. It states that return policy can be enforced in many ways, according to the author it says that it is the most powerful element to better the company brand identity, increase the progress of firm’s revenue, customer faith. Return policy could build up the customer trust level towards the company’s commitment by giving them multiple return opportunity as giving them free return policy by returning a product at them. Physical store. By allowing private customers a return opportunity, that will curtail the customer risk of the buying since they can reconsider the product if it does not match. If we define return approach regulate how field access the return. In online business the return approach is divided into category, lenient or restrictive return approach. A lenient returns approach is where the vendor bears the cost of return. A lenient return approach would devote to boost sale and bulkier number of volume returns. 25 2.4.2 Return avoidance: The meaning of return avoidance is to develop and transfer of the product in an appearance such that demand are minimized. It is the crucial step of return management growth and offering to separate between reverse logistics and conventional way of return. The author has defined some of the ways of return avoidance. The initial step is to developing the product quality, and the second footfall is exceptional advisement respecting how to manage the returned products. If we look into the matter of ecommerce aspect, it commits reducing the customer imperil of buying a product. Let’s consider an example of cloth business it has many different SKU’s and many different sizes. If the seller is persistent in their sizes, that will create difficulties for the customer and they will return the products. The main role of return management is to accommodate the sellers through proper briefing, to make sure about the main role in the avoidance of return. 2.4.3 Gatekeeping: Gatekeeping is basically known as scanning of defective and baseless returned commodity at the access point into the reverse logistics. Excellent gatekeeping is the initial important factor in making the whole reverse flow convenient and profitable. In most of the companies at their return policies are so much indulgent consumers contribute their advantages. Most of the time customers do not read the whole instructions about the return policies which creates a lot of trouble for the retailers and online sellers and direct create a trouble to the manufacturer. A good gatekeeping operation can help the producer in keeping this as low as possible. (Reddy & Audo, n.d.) Gatekeeping is the organization of both return application and the returned commodity. The main function of gatekeeping is 26 structuring the products, where it is decisive of a product is adequate as a return or not. It also associates with the improvement of return integrity, that defines which type of return are acceptable. The essential function of gatekeeping is to establish that only certain type products should be returned, in a definitive point in the return practice. The exertion of gatekeeping usually associates with an alliance of action with the other factors in the supply chain. By having gatekeeping furnished in the specific point of entry, it could help us in reducing the un-wanted costs. By not indulgent unwarranted items to enter the return movement. 2.4.4 Disposition: The meaning of disposition is to take the decision how and what to perform with the returned product. Disposition associates with the action such as reselling through inferior markets, recycle, reproduce or either transfer to dispose of. It conceives with a fundamental instruction for the returned items. It is crucial step to establish mechanism for disposition option astride the supply chain and from other attitude of the supply chain. The condition should be customer representative management (CRM), product improvement, commercializing the product, and building the vendor relationship. Return logistics management is a main factor to handle the product returns. A clear picture of return behavior it will help to decrease the number of returns. Precautionary amplification such as return avoidance and gatekeeping commitment to an adequate return action, minimizing the cost and future return. 27 2.5 Trend analysis of reverse logistics: Discussing the trend analysis of reverse logistics of the author (Reddy & Audo, n.d.). The background of the study is that to find out the basic trends of reverse logistics. It provides an idea of different researchers and different freight experts have defined the reverse logistics. This research have covered the basic activities of reverse logistics and it tells how these activities change the judgment that managers have to make on a daily basis in their organization. The main objective of conducting this research is to find out the conception of reverse logistics and their main important aspects in manufacturing industry. This study also tried to look into the environmental issues. The main problem behind conducting this research is to find out how to define reverse logistics, what are the main procedure involved in reverse logistics, what companies are doing with the returned products, how the returns got affect with the agreement made in accomplishment firms, how the environmental problems affect the reverse logistics. The method which was used to conduct the responses they have standardized the questionnaire. They have adopted the questionnaire to get the number of responses in order to accomplish the objectives of the research.  Understanding the idea and knowledge of the appellant what they know about reverse logistics  The economical factor and customer satisfaction created an impact of returns 28 in previous years.  Getting an idea about the thinking of public regarding return policies.  The quick decision taken in order to maintain company environmental friendly. The result which were get from survey questionnaire about getting an idea and concept of reverse logistics as appreciated by the manufacturers and logistics experts working in the organization. In this category of the paper an endeavor has been made to begin the answers given defendant in an appreciable form, is to provide an idea of their approach of the concept of reverse logistics. The survey respondent include 40 people in the manufacturing and supply chain distribution of about 20 companies were approach for the survey. In this section the feedback given by the competition to the inquiry have been considered in an accurate manner. The investigation is also based on the conference with the member that were assisted after the survey was done. Also an attack to correlate the competition responses to the background has been made to accept the thoughts of the appellant on the topic. Discussing the trend analysis of Disposition decision in reverse logistics by using AHP-Fuzzy TOPSIS Approach by the author (Authors, 2016) The background of the study is that by growing the concerned anxious for the environment, constitution and corporate social responsibility has heightened the interest of researcher professional in reverse flows is being sanctioned by the professional and institute from across the board the research areas. According to the study some of the companies like Hp, Phillips, and Dell have adopted and practiced the reverse logistics in their business in order to gain socio economic advantage over 29 their competition. The author have defined the procedure of reverse logistics it is the stage when the companies plan, implement and provide the authority to adequate the cost effective movement of raw materials, work in process of inventory, finished goods and linked with information from point of expenditure to the point of influence for the determination of recapturing or fabricating value. The main purpose of this conducting research is to select the best reverse logistics disposition substitute. The multiple of criteria of decision making techniques are used in which resolution makers assess the variation of options was provided under the given position of criteria and then they have selected the best technique by utilizing the MCDM. The procedure of data collection is considered o 3 important parts including different, criteria and the load of relative significance. The conclusion of the study is that the quick depletion of assets, environmental distress and governmental directive results in both insistence and drivers for the organization to apply the reverse logistics. The reverse logistics is the procedure of collecting, inspecting and sorting of disposition, reusing, rebuild recycle the products from the customers to the producer for controlling the economies of scale and to protect the environment and to gain socio economic benefit. The disposition of returned product is very important for obtaining the sake from the point of reverse logistics, since we have also noticed that economic criteria are also linked with in the study, the disposition strategy must consider as an important task for the organization. 30 2.6 Hypothesis:  H1. There is a positive impact of return policy on ecommerce.  H2. There is a positive impact of disposition on ecommerce.  H3. There is a positive impact of gatekeeping on return logistics.  H4. There is a positive impact of return avoidance on ecommerce.  H5. There is a positive impact of ecommerce on return logistics.  H6. There is a positive impact of gatekeeping on ecommerce. 31 2.7 Conceptual Framework: . 32 CHAPTER: 3 METHODOLOGIES 3.0 Research Design: This study is based on general buyers in Karachi, for conveying out this study, respondents from different areas were selected on non-random based. This study is quantitative in nature it complicated the use of survey. More than 100 questionnaires were circulated and all the questionnaire were usable. Questionnaires were used for examination. The data was analyzed with regression approach on SPSS software. The questionnaire was adopted from Questionnaire adopted from following: Dhananjaya Reddy, Vida DAVIDAVIČIENĖ*, Mohamad AL MAJZOUB21 April 2021, LINCT Lin, C Shuang-Shii -, 2018, Skrifter från Högskolan i Borås December 2010 3.1 Sampling Design: I have decided that my research survey’s will be conducted in Karachi, Pakistan for 100 peoples for both including male and females in the age bracket between 25-30, 30-35, 40-50, 50-55. 3.2 Instruments for Data Collection: The study was based on self-administrated survey through this we were conducting the research. The instrument of data collection which I have chosen for research surveys is that I have adopted a closed ended questionnaire from the previous research articles and papers. It defines that my questionnaire was closed ended in which the respondent doesn’t have the choice to provide his/her opinion, it defines that questionnaire was based on the 5-point Liker scale which have the following opinion. 33  Strongly Agree  Strongly Disagree  Agree  Disagree  Neutral There will be 3 parts of the questionnaire part A part B and part C. Section A contains demographic factors like age, gender, occupation, and academic information etc. Section B contains e commerce in reverse logistics management and the five dimensions of return logistics management. (Return policy, return avoidance, disposition and gatekeeping) Variables: Dependent variable: Sustainable Return Logistics Management In-Dependent variable:  Return Policy  Return Avoidance  Gatekeeping  Disposition Mediating Variable: Ecommerce 34 3.3 Statistical Technique: The test which I will perform for checking the result Regression, Correlation, Reliability Test, Frequencies statistics. 35 CHAPTER: 4 RESULTS 4.0 Frequencies: Frequencies variables include Gender, Age, and Qualification. Table 4.1 The above table shows that the respondent are those peoples they are in between the ages of 25 to 30. They create 54.0 percent of total sample collected and made a cumulative percent of 54.0 and they are approx. 54 in number out of 100 peoples. Second largest group 30 to 35 years of age. They are 14 in numbers and they made a cumulative percent of 14.0 percent. Peoples falling in the age bracket of 40 to 45 years are 12 in numbers they made 11.0 percent and 91.0 cumulative percentage. The least portion in data sample consists of 50 to 55 are in 9 in numbers constituting 9.0 percent of total sample located at 100.0 percentage. 36 Table 4.2 Table 4.2 represents the distribution of sample in terms of education. The above chart tells us that our total represent that 48 were bachelor passed representing 48.0 percent and 45 peoples were master passed representing 45.0 percent and making 93.0 cumulative percentage and 2 were masters and above representing 5.0 percentage of total sample, making 95.0 cumulative percent, 5 are from professional certification 5.0 percent to total sample. Table 4.3 The above chart represents that distribution of sample in terms of gender. The above data tells us that out 100 total sample, 74 were male representing 74.0 percent of total sample and there are 26 female respondent who made a contribution of 26.0 percent of total sample making cumulative 100 percent. 37 4.1 Reliability Testing: The result which I have gained through cronbach’s alpha 0.844 which means that it is accepted because it is greater than 0.06. 4.2 Correlation: Reverse Ecomm Return Disposi Gatekee Return Logistics erce Policy tion ping 0.402** .548** 0.049 0.280** 0.000 0.000 0.627 0.005 100 100 100 100 Ecomm Pearson erce Correlation .660** Sig (2-tailed) - 1 100 Avoidance Since p-value of all the correlation is below .05 therefore we have enough evidence to accept that there is a moderate to strong correlation between reverse logistic, return policy, disposition, return avoidance and e-commerce, Except for gatekeeping that has insignificant correlation with e-commerce, Correlation indicates that if independent variable increases then the mediating variable ecommerce also increases leading to increase in reverse logistics. 38 4.3 Regression: Original Sample P values Dis on Ecom 0.406 0.000 Ecom on RL 0.288 0.004 GK on Ecom -0.032 0.699 GK on RL 0.335 0.002 RA on Ecom 0.276 0.004 RP on Ecom 0.279 0.003 39 Hypothesis 1: There is a significant impact of disposition on ecommerce Interpretation from the above table: Since p-value is less than .05 therefore we have enough evidence to accept the hypothesis that disposition impacts e-commerce by .406. Hypothesis 2: there is a significant impact of Gate keeping on ecommerce Interpretation from the above table: Since p-value is greater than .05 therefore we have enough evidence to reject the hypothesis that gate keeping impacts e-commerce. Hypothesis 3: there is a significant impact of return avoidance on ecommerce Interpretation from the above table: Since p-value is less than .05 therefore we have enough evidence to accept the hypothesis that return avoidance impacts e-commerce by .276. Hypothesis 4: there is a significant impact of return policy on ecommerce Interpretation from the above table: Since p-value is less than .05 therefore we have enough evidence to accept the hypothesis that policy impacts e-commerce by the value of .279. Hypothesis 5: there is a significant impact of e-commerce on reverse logistic Interpretation from the above table: Since p-value is less than .05 therefore we have enough evidence to accept the hypothesis that e-commerce impacts return policy by the value of .288. Modified Hypothesis 2: there is a significant impact of Gate keeping on reverse logistic Interpretation from the above table: Since p-value is less than .05 therefore we have enough evidence to accept the 40 hypothesis that gate keeping has a direct impact on reverse logistic with the value of .335. 4.4 Summary of Hypothesis S.NO Hypothesis Status 1 H1. There is a positive impact of return policy on ecommerce. Accepted 2 H2. There is a positive impact of disposition on ecommerce. Accepted 4 H3. There is a positive impact of return avoidance on ecommerce. Accepted 5 H4. There is a positive impact of ecommerce on return logistics. Accepted H6 There is a positive impact of gatekeeping on return logistics. Accepted H6 There is a positive impact of gatekeeping on ecommerce Rejected 6 41 CHAPTER: 5 CONCLUSIONS 5.0 Discussion: The main purpose of conducting this research is to find out the impact of sustainable return logistics in ecommerce. Through this I have made an objectives while conducting my research is to:  To find out the impact of return policy on ecommerce business.  To find out the impact of return avoidance on ecommerce business.  To find out the impact of gatekeeping on ecommerce business.  To find out the impact of disposition on ecommerce business.  To find out the impact of ecommerce on sustainable return logistics. After performing test analysis, it states that the objectives which I have defined to observe the impact on gatekeeping on ecommerce rejected because it does not create a direct link with the variables of return logistics (gatekeeping) with ecommerce due to gatekeeping is only done when the returned products came back to their destination hubs or warehouse and proper barcoding and entry recorded in the system that particular products have being added in the inventory. So I have modified the test analysis, and link my independent variable with direct dependent variable sustainable return logistics so the number 3 objective and hypothesis is modified because it creates a significant relationship between gatekeeping on return logistics. It basically has an impact on return logistics because the returned product received in the warehouse enters only once gatekeeping is done and it reconciled with the customer data that how many orders customers have returned physically and how many orders enters the warehouse. The result which I have got are all meaningful and have significant and correlated with each other. The importance of 42 results findings is that all my research is based on ecommerce platform so know a day’s trend have been changing and shopping tradition is not taken place towards an online platform so this is evolution and it needs to be studied more about the facts and negative effect, how does the customers face an issue regarding purchasing from an ecommerce platform and the necessity action the ecommerce industry has to take against the return products. After the research questionnaire that arise in the literature which are personal interested to the author. The encouragement of the research has been for exceptional understanding of the explanation of returns and the use of return management in order to reduce the negative effect on the structure. Consistently the unfavorable effect of return were send by decreasing the cost of returns handling by economies of scale. The freedom in the economy of scale appear by integrate or giving the contract to 3rd party for managing the handling of return products. Return Management and prevention combined with increased analysis of internal activities such as marketing grant the prevention of some return. This circumstances of return avoidance presented by the author. Those which adopts a strategy to comprehend the products they are converted into more likely to delight the customer needs, thus it is a great advantage if we gain the market knowledge of distinctive of supply chain potentiality. Moreover, they will likely avoid the issues of under delivery and excess delivery that are latent in the system with a uniform service delivery. While using the one system that fits all order, delivery and return system technology never collateral the minimum cost nor it helps to maximize the revenue or sales. Delivering the products without empathetic the or performing in conformity with the customer’s service demand, seemingly under delivers with possible returns or 43 lost sales, or the system excess delivery without assisting it. In a revenue aspect it might even profitable to add cost in order to assure satisfy that we do not under deliver for example lowest cost does not support to maximize the revenue. (Hjort, 2010) 6.0 Conclusion: Throughout my research I have planned to go through the objectives and task and what to get from the research is that:  To find out the impact of return policy on ecommerce business.  To find out the impact of return avoidance on ecommerce business.  To find out the impact of gatekeeping on ecommerce business.  To find out the impact of disposition on ecommerce business. The main problem for conducting the research is to find out the impact of sustainable return logistics on ecommerce. I have adopted a questionnaire on dimensions of return logistics, ecommerce and return logistics. I have collected 100 responses and through this I have performed test analysis of frequencies, reliability, correlation and regression analysis. I have tested my hypothesis majority of hypothesis are accepted and 1 hypothesis got rejected due to not creating any link between gatekeeping on ecommerce so I have modified my hypothesis and link my gatekeeping variable with return logistics and through this the result which I got is meaningful and have a relationship between gatekeeping and return logistics. 7.0 Limitation and Future recommendations: 44 I have limited my research due to unavailability of responses so that I have only collected the data from Karachi. This research can also be done in other cities of Pakistan like in other cities for example, Lahore, Islamabad, Sialkot. The research which I have conducted is quantitative in nature and in future this research can also be done in qualitative study. I have limited my finding up to 4 dimension of return logistics, this research can also be done in other dimensions of return logistics such as replenishment, recycle, repacking and reusable, asset recovery, compacting disposition cycle time. I have conducted this research into an ecommerce platform, this research can also be done in pharmaceuticals. The further work can be done on other factor of sustainable return logistics such as economic conditions, environmental factor social performance factors and sustainable manufacturing. 8.0 References: 45 Impact of E-business technology on operational competence and firm profitability over time Proceedings ot the 21st Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems: ''Societal Transformation Through IS/IT'', PACIS 2017 A goal programming model for sustainable reverse logistics operations planning and an application, Journal of Cleaner Production, 2018 Outsourcing reverse logistics for e-commerce retailers: A two-stage fuzzy optimization approach, Wang, Chia Nan Dang, Thanh Tuan Nguyen, Ngoc Ai Thy, 2021 The effects of e-business processes in supply chain operations: Process component and value creation mechanisms, Zhu, Zhen Zhao, Jing Bush, Ashley A. 2020 A conceptual framework for reverse logistics challenges in e-commerce International Journal of Business Performance Management 2020 Żuchowski, Wiktor. Reverse logistics in e-business: Optimal price and return policy, Mukhopadhyay, Samar K. Setoputro, Robert International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management, 2004. Designing a reverse logistics network for an e-commerce firm: A case study, Das, Debadyuti Kumar, Rahul Rajak, Manish Kumar, 2020 Master ’ s degree thesis, Saldic, Seada 2020. A multiobjective optimization model for sustainable reverse logistics in Indian Ecommerce market, Dutta, Pankaj Mishra, Anurag Khandelwal, Sachin Katthawala, Ibrahim, 2020. The impact of E-Business on supply chain management, Berisha-Namani, Mihane, 46 2009. The Effect of Reverse Logistics on Sustainable Manufacturing, Alhamzah Alnoor, 2019. Reverse logistics in e-business Optimal price and return policy, Samar K. Mukhopadhyay and Robert Setoputro, 2004. Returns Avoidance and Gatekeeping to Enhance E-commerce Performance, Hjort, Klas, 2010. The Effect of Reverse Logistics on Sustainable Manufacturing Alhamzah Alnoor, 2019 A study on Reverse Logistics MASTER THESIS WORK (KPP231) MASTER PROGRAM IN PRODUCT AND PROCESS DEVELOPMENT-PRODUCTION &LOGISTICS, Reddy, Dhananjaya Audo, Sabah 2019. 47 APPENDIX Appendix A1: PLAGIARISM VERIFICATION Appendix A2: PLAGIARISM REPORT Appendix A3: QUESTIONNAIRE Appendix A4: SPSS DATA SHEET SCREENT SHOT 48 Appendix A2: PLAGIARISM REPORT 49 50 51 52 53 Appendix A3 Questionnaire Questionnaire Section A 1. Age 25 to 30 2. Gender 30 to 35 Male 3. Education Certification Bachelor 35 to 40 40 to 50 50 to 55 Female Master Masters and above Professional Section B Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Reverse Logistics Have you heard about the term reverse logistics? Do it beneficial for the company. Well-trained supply chain partners assist in REL implementation and management. Cooperation with business partners in the supply chain is high in the REL Implementation Third-party contribute in risksharing, culture compatibility, information system technology, supplier mentoring, employment stability, and knowledge management Reverse Logistics flows through multiple departments, Channels and multiple Organizations. No efficient and effective REL systems are used to monitor returns, and recalls are used. E-commerce I can shop on internet anytime. I think returning an item purchase from online is convenient I think the price on internet is cheaper If possible, I will proceed purchasing products on the internet Online buyers say return policies influence their decision to shop with an e-retailer. Return policy Return procedures are consistent and relatively easy The return policy includes product returns by the customers in cases such as product end of-life and 54 defects. 3 4 5 6 In case of defective/wrong product, the firm claims no liability whatsoever in this matter to refund or repair. The product which got returned is treated as donated, recycled, and remanufactured. Repacked, resold or sent to central processing. The product returned cycle time for the product handled in your company is much higher. The number of returned items based on the sales is higher. Disposition The company follow the 3 kinds of 1 steps for disposal of waste material. The company do resells their returned item from their online 2 store at their outlet. The company recycle their disposal 3 material to form a new material. Gatekeeping Types of gatekeeping, centralized screening, in which all returned products are collected then forwarded to a central returns facility, where screening takes 1 place. Gatekeeping is done immediately when products arrive to the 2 warehouse. Separation of return information and goods flow to facilitate 3 gatekeeping. Gatekeeping the entry point of the returns flow to facilitate the value 4 recovery. The company can perform an effective gatekeeping through 5 modern and innovative system. Return Avoidance: Do the company follow screening of the return product while returning 1 back to reverse flow model. Avoiding the returns is distant selling through differentiating customers and their service 2 delivery. Based on achieved understanding and results, how should a supply/demand chain be organized 3 to avoid future return 55 Appendix A4 SPSS DATA SHEET Variable View: 56 Data View: 57 58 59 60 iii 4 5 6