Operational Pattern Selection And Pricing Strategy In Dual-channel E-retail

For the reason that the rapid development of e-commerce and logistics industry has greatly improved the efficiency of purchasing process and changed the consumption habit,more and more manufacturing enterprises start to expand online retail channels to fit the growing of online retail market.Many of the existing literature investigated the conflict between traditional channels and e-retail channels.Howere,different from the traditional supply chain,the cost of the consumers is lower when they purchase product from e-retail market and the competition between e-retail platforms is also fiercer.In the mean time,different e-platform plays different role in e-retail market,some e-retail platforms just play a role as an intermediary between manufacturers and consumers,while others act as the role of the retailer.Therefore,it is required to study e-retail problems independently in dual channel supply chain.In this dissertation,on the basis of dual channels of e-retail supply chain,the research divides operational pattern of e-retail platform into two kinds from the perspective of manufacturers:other organization pattern(OEP)and self organization pattern(SEP).Under OEP,the e-commerce platform is run by the e-retailer,that is,the e-retailer purchases products from the manufacturer and sells them to the consumers through its own e-channel(e-platform),in the meantime,the e-retailer also provide services to the customers,operate and maintain its own e-platform and provide one-stop service like unified storage,logistics,brand marketing;Under SEP,the e-commerce platform only provides a trading platform for the manufacturer and consumers,but not participate in the e-retail process.Base on this category and considering the heterogeneity of consumers of the service quality perception,this dissertation investigates the impact of the operational pattern and service quality of e-retail platform on the e-retail price strategy and channel selection strategy in dual channel e-retail by integrated utilizing consumer utility analysis,game theory and numerical simulation methods.The main research contents are as follows:Firstly,this dissertation discusses whether the charging mechanism of self-organization e-platform can influence the optimal decision of the manufacturers and e-retailers.The results show that under hybrid operational pattern,a fixed commission charged by self-organization e-platform just has an effect on the total profit of the manufacturer,but a variable commission would not only influence the wholesale price and e-retail price of both e-platforms,but also magnify the effect of service quality to some extent.Meanwhile,when the self-organization e-platform adopts variable commission pattern,the market prices of the products will all go up.The dual channel structure of can be divided into three kinds in e-retail on the basis of the category of the e-retail platform operation patterns:dual platform with dual pattern(RS),dual platform with single pattern(RR and SS)and single platform with dual pattern(R+S).This dissertation further analyzes how the dual channel structure of e-retail affects the e-retail price strategy and manufacturer's channel selection strategy under differential pricing and uniform pricing.The results show that under differential pricing mode,the manufacturer and e-retailer can set a higher e-retail price when the service quality of e-retail platform is higher,and set a lower e-retail price when the service quality of e-retail platform is lower.In the meantime,the improvement of service quality of one e-retail platform will raise e-retail price strategy,but will reduce the e-retail price strategy of its competitors.Under uniform pricing mode,the e-retail price of the e-retail market will all go up when the service quality of e-retail platform is improving.Under both differential pricing and uniform pricing mode,the manufacturer's channel selection strategy follows the same rule:If the manufacturer do not consider the change of platform licensing charged by self-organization e-retail platform,the optimal dual channel structure of e-retail will be selected by the manufacturer according to the current level of platform licensing;but if the manufacturer do consider the change of platform licensing charged by self-organization e-retail platform,the sub-optimal dual-channel structure of e-retail will be selected by the manufacturer.