Skip to content
MarketScale
Demo
Contributors›Travis Tokar
Travis Tokar photo

Professor of Supply Chain Management

Travis Tokar

Travis Tokar is a Professor of Supply Chain Management in the Information Systems and Supply Chain Management Department at TCU, holding a PhD, MTLM, and BS/BA from the University of Arkansas. He specializes in behavioral issues in logistics, replenishment management, and business forecasting. Among his notable publications is the research on motivation framing in supply chain tasks and online shopper behaviors in response to shipping charges. Professor Tokar's expertise significantly influences current understandings of decision-making in supply chain management.

2 articlesLinkedIn ↗
Contributor Brief·Travis Tokar · 2 articles
Updated Nov 17, 2023

Inflation, not logistics, reshapes retail strategy and consumer experience

Travis Tokar argues that inflation has superseded supply chain disruption as the primary driver of consumer behavior change, forcing retailers and CPG companies to fundamentally rethink their operating models. He contends that traditional customer experience policies—particularly generous return policies in fashion—are no longer economically sustainable when rising supply chain costs compress margins, requiring strategic policy recalibration rather than operational band-aids.

inflation vs. logistics delays

Rising costs reshape consumer shopping more than delivery delays

“Rising costs are reshaping how consumers shop more significantly than logistics delays.”

Are Supply Chain Disruptions Impacting Consumer Behavior?

Primary factors reshaping retail strategy and consumer experience

Inflation and rising supply chain costs10
Supply chain logistics delays and disruptions6
Return policy sustainability under margin pressure9
Customer experience policy recalibration8

SHARE

30%Inflation and
Inflation and rising supply chain costs
Supply chain logistics delays and disruptions
Return policy sustainability under margin pressure
Customer experience policy recalibration

return policies

Once-core customer experience tool now economically untenable

Rising supply chain costs are forcing fashion retailers to reconsider return policies that once defined their customer experience.

The Price of Fashion: Decoding Retail Policies Amidst Rising Supply Chain Costs

Retailers must strategically recalibrate policies rather than apply operational fixes.

The Price of Fashion: Decoding Retail Policies Amidst Rising Supply Chain Costs

“Cost inflation forces retailers to rethink customer experience fundamentally, not incrementally.”

Themes:Inflation as primary behavior driver over logisticsPolicy recalibration under margin compressionCustomer experience sustainability under cost pressure

What is MarketScale

These experts publish through MarketScale, a content platform that turns industry knowledge into articles, video, and audience. Want the same for your team?