The role of redress in consumer online purchasing

Redress is a post-purchase complaint procedure that necessitates some form of compensation for consumers who lodge complaints about a defective product or poor level of service. Its importance in relation to offline business activities has received some research interest, and it is widely accepted that redress has a significant influence on consumer trust in that environment. However, redress has yet to be adequately understood in connection to online purchasing, and research into its role in this context has been sparse. This paper focuses on the influence of redress procedures on the decisions of consumers to purchase online, through an analysis of the perceptions of a selected group of online consumers and merchants.