Marketing Strategies In Dual-channel Supply Chain

This dissertation studies important marketing strategies with the development of dual-channel supply chain,where the manufacturer sells through both a traditional offline channel and an online channel.Notably,consumers are exhibiting different purchasing behaviors in the dual-channel supply chain from those in the traditional supply chain where a manufacturer sells solely through an offline retailer.Although dual-channel supply chain has been well-studied in both management and marketing literature,less attention has been paid on how to manage marketing strategies considering the specific consumer purchasing behaviors in the dual-channel supply chain.In this dissertation,we propose theoretical models to study three important marketing strategies:pricing,distribution and advertising in the dual-channel supply chain.In our first study,we study pricing competition between the online and offline channels under the effects of showrooming behavior(i.e.consumer may examine the product in an offline retailer but switch to buy from an online retailer)and the sunk cost effect(i.e.consumers who have already paid transportation costs to visit the offline retailer may be reluctant to switch to the online retailer).In our second study,we investigate the channel choice of the manufacturer and the product assortment decisions of the online and offline channels when the manufacturer produces vertical differentiated products.In our third study,we discuss three advertising modes:national advertising;joint advertising,where the manufacturer advertises for its online retailer and the online retailer shares a part of advertising cost;and cost-sharing of national advertising,where the offline retailer shares a part of the manufacturer’s national advertising cost.In summary,this dissertation(i)emphasizes the importance of considering consumer behaviors in making marketing decisions,(ii)investigates the interaction of supply chain members,and(iii)illustrates how marketing decisions play a crucial role in the performances in the dual-channel supply chain.