Ordering And Retailing Strategies For Online Apparel Retailers Facing Bracketing Purchase Behaviour

Consumer behaviour is changing in the e-commerce of apparel products where increasing consumers tend to bracket,which means that consumers purchase multiple versions of an item to try at home and return those that do not meet their requirements.The bracketing purchase behaviour not only provides an uncertainty reliever for consumers shopping online,but also improves their shopping experience and matching probability.However,the tsunami of returns from bracketing has become particularly challenging for online retailers to manage inventory and profit.Some large online retailers have begun to offer try-before-you-buy service in order to cater to the bracketing purchase behaviour and consumers' personalized demand,such as Amazon.Based on this,research on the operation mechanism of bracketing purchase and try-before-you-buy service and ordering and retailing strategies can provide a scientific theory basis for online retailers facing emerging consumer behavior to develop a new retailing model,which will be great theoretical and practical significance.In the above backdrop,based on the theories and methods of Operations Research,Inventory Theories,Marketing Science,and Game Theory,this paper studies the ordering and retailing strategies of the retailer.Main research contents and findings include:1.Ordering strategies for retailers facing bracketing purchase behaviour.This content includs that analyzed the characteristics of the bracketing,developed newsvendor for the retailer facing bracketing,and combined the relevant theories of inventory management to study the impacts of bracketing on the retailer's order and determine its optimal order quantity.(1)The results show that bracketing purchase will lead to a tsunami of returns,but it can also help the retailer reduce return rate.(2)The retailer should order more products to satisfy bracketers' need,although the return rate is high or the cost of stock shortage high.(3)The determination of optimal strategies for return handling depends on the values of the cost parameters and the expected number and size of the bracketing.By controlling the number of purchases,improving the efficiency of returns,and optimizing the shelf cost of the products,it can effectively deal with the problem that the bracketing leads to a large number of returns.Bracketing purchase is more beneficial to the retailer facing large returns,simplifying the return process,improving the efficiency of return,and optimizing the cost of resale.2.Retailing strategies for online apparel retailers facing bracketing purchase behaviour.This content includes that studied the retailing strategies of retailers when they actively cater or passively accept the bracketing purchase behaviour.This paper reconstructed the consumer utility functions and developed profit-maximizing models,and then derived the optimal retailing strategies and discount strategies,and analyzed the impacts of bracketing and try-before-you-buy on the retailer.(1)The results show that bracketing purchase will lead to a tsunami of returns,but it can also help the retailer convert returns into a competitive advantage and improve profit if being controlled properly.(2)Bracketing purchase is more beneficial to the retailer selling a high profitability item,having a high return rate,facing low demand uncertainty,or having a low matching probability.(3)Whether the retailer actively accepts the bracketing purchase behaviour depends on the size of the matching probability,and which price strategy to execute depends on the size of the membership.Though widespread,the logistics and marketing implications of bracketing purchase behaviour have not been considered in previous studies,and this paper has proved that the decision without this behavior will cause the retailer to face huge losses.This paper provides guidance for the online apparel retailer on how to convert the returns from bracketing into a competitive advantage,which is a “win-win” strategy.There are 20 figures,7 tables and 74 references in this dissertation.