Research On Omni-channel Ordering And Pricing Strategies Under Consumer Strategic Behavior

With the rapid development of information network,the popularity of Internet technology and electronic equipment has promoted the rapid development of retail industry.At the same time,consumers are becoming more mature and can fully consider all channels and all alternatives to maximize their own utility.Traditional single-channel and dual-channel marketing models can no longer meet the growing consumer demand,which makes retailers have completed the transformation from “online to offline” and “offline to online”,improved channel integration and adopted the omni-channel retail model.Omni-channel retailing provides consumers with convenient places and payment methods,provides consumers with indifferent shopping experience,which is increasingly favored by consumers and retailers.Therefore,from the perspective of retailers and consumers' strategic behavior,this paper applies the theory of rational expectation equilibrium to conduct a two-party game,and obtains the ordering and pricing decisions and strategies of retailers before and after the implementation of omni-channel mode according to the strategic behavior of consumers.The main research contents include the following aspects:Firstly,considering that a retailer operates both offline physical stores and online stores at the same time,both of which make ordering decisions.The retailer provide three sales method to obtain profits: buy and pick up products in the offline store channel,buy products in the online store channel and wait for the fast delivery and buy products in the online store channel and pick up products in the offline store channel(BOPS,Buy-Online-and-Pick-up-in-Store).The consumers strategically choose the shopping method that suits them best according to the utility of the three methods,and the retailer determines the optimal ordering decision on the offline and offline store channel according to the shopping method of the consumer.The rational expectation equilibrium method is adopted in this paper to game the decisions of retailers and consumers.The research shows that the optimal ordering quantity in the offline store channel with omni-channel retailer implements the BOPS mode is larger than that of the dual channel retailer without the BOPS mode.However,the BOPS model is not always favorable to retailers.Only when consumer surplus and retailer inventory cost meet certain conditions,the profit generated by omni-channel retailers when implementing the BOPS model is greater than the profit generated by dual-channel retailers when not implementing the BOPS model.At last,the numerical simulation results show the reliability and effectiveness of the models.Secondly,a supply chain system consisting of a single retailer and heterogeneous consumer groups with strategic return and cancellation behaviors is considered.Before implementing the ROPS(Reserve-Online-Pick-up-and-Pay-in-Store)model,retailers only provide consumers with purchasing and paying and waiting for express delivery online.When consumers receive products that do not meet expectations,they will return the goods.After implementing the ROPS model,they will provide consumers with three methods:purchasing and paying and waiting for express delivery online,reserving online picking up and paying in store,purchasing offline directly.Consumers will cancel orders if they think they don't meet expectations when they experience goods in physical stores.Consumers strategically choose whether products are retained or not according to the maximization of consumers' surplus.Retailers establish profit function according to consumers' choice to determine the optimal pricing and ordering decision.The rational expectation equilibrium method is adopted in this paper to game the decisions of retailers and consumers.The results show that the optimal pricing of omni-channel retailers after implementing the ROPS model is less than that before the implementation.Under certain conditions of inventory cost,unit cross-selling profit and online market base parameters,the optimal order quantity and maximum profit of omni-channel retailers after implementing the ROPS model are larger than those before the implementation of the optimal order quantity and maximum profit.At last,the numerical simulation results show the reliability and effectiveness of the models.Finally,according to the content and results of the above research,this paper provides theoretical and practical suggestions on inventory management level and pricing decision-making for retail enterprises when implementing the omni-channel model,and points out the shortcomings and limitations of this study at the end of the paper,and looks forward to the future research direction.