This study aims to investigate the conditions for the financial feasibility of an incentive-based model for self-drop or crowdsourced drop of the product to be returned at designated drop boxes (thereby ensuring a contactless process)
Constraint-based non-linear mathematical modeling was done for cost differential with and without crowdsourcing. This was analyzed against returns on investment for the installed infrastructure. Scenarios were looked into from the linear, iso-elastic and logarithmic demand functions to identify the optimal incentive policy. The results were further evaluated using “willingness to return” for customer willingness for product returns via drop boxes