Optimal Pricing And Sale Mode Selections For Products Under The E-commerce Environment

With the popularization of information technology and the rise of Internet commerce,e-commerce has promoted the development of domestic economic and social development.However,the interaction behavior of e-commerce market participators presents great challenges to the selections of product sale mode.Therefore,it is of great theoretical and practical significance to address the optimal pricing decisions and sale mode selections of products under the e-commerce environment.Based on the basic theory in information systems economics,marketing,game theory,and operation management,this dissertation applies the optimization theory and numerical simulation to address the optimal pricing decisions and sale mode selections for products in the e-commerce environment from the perspectives of the platform and the manufacturer.The dissertation’s aspects include consumer loyalty behavior,different logistics service strategies,cross-channel spillover effect,and product substitutability.The main contents are summarized as follows:First,considering consumer loyalty behavior,this dissertation investigates the sale mode selection between agency selling and wholesale selling for an e-commerce platform,discusses the impact of platform’s sale mode selection on consumer surplus and social welfare,and analyses the impact of customer loyalty on the e-commerce platform’s product pricing decisions and sale mode selections.Analytical results indicate that the choice of the optimal sale mode of the e-commerce platform depends on the strength of consumer loyalty.Specifically,when consumer loyalty is strong enough,the e-commerce platform should adopt the agency selling mode.Otherwise,the e-commerce platform should use the wholesale selling mode.In addition,results show that the consumer surplus and the social welfare under the agency selling mode are higher than those under the wholesale selling mode.Second,considering different logistics service strategies,this dissertation investigates the sale mode selection between openness and closed for an e-commerce platform,discusses the impact of platform’s sale mode selection on the third-party seller’s profit,consumer surplus and social welfare,and analyses the impact of the different logistics service strategies on the e-commerce platform’s product pricing decisions and sale mode selections.Analytical results indicate that under the third-party logistics strategy,when the commission rate is in the middle value and the consumer utility discount is small,the platform tends to adopt the openness sale mode.Under the self-built logistics strategy,the platform always tends to use the openness sale mode.In addition,when the logistics service cost is low,the platform,the third-party seller and consumers all benefit from the self-established logistics strategy.Third,considering cross-channel spillover effect,this dissertation investigates the sale mode selection between agency selling and wholesale selling for a manufacturer,discusses the impact of the manufacturer’s sale mode selection on the e-commerce platform’s profit,the offline retailer’s profit,consumer surplus and social welfare,and analyses how different types of spillover effects affect manufacturer’s product pricing decisions and online sale model choices.Analytical results indicate that the choice of online sale mode depends on the intensity of spillover effect and the online channel acceptance.Different types of spillovers have different impacts on manufacturer’s choice of sale mode,and the online channel acceptance has a moderating effect on the spillovers.In addition,when the spillover effect is negative and the online channel acceptance is small,all parties in the game benefit from the agency selling mode.Finally,considering product substitutability,this dissertation investigates the optimal sale sequence choice between simultaneous and sequential,discusses the impact of the manufacturer’s choice on the revenue of e-commerce platform,and analyses how product substitutability affects the manufacturer’s multi-product pricing decision and the sale sequence selection.Analytical results indicate that when the product substitution intensity is low,the manufacturer should choose the simultaneous sale mode.When the product substitution intensity is moderate or high,the manufacturer’s best choice is to sell the products sequentially.In addition,the e-commerce platform and the manufacturer have different preferences for different sale sequences.When the product substitution intensity is low,the simultaneous sale mode can realize the win-win situation for all parties in the game.