Multi-channel Sales Strategy For Retailers Based On The Background Of COVID-19

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus,China’s economy has been severely affected,with the total retail sales of consumer goods continuing to decline,and the retail industry bearing the brunt due to its special nature.In this situation,consumers’ shopping psychology and shopping methods will change,and retailers’ sales channel strategies will also change accordingly.Therefore,there is still a large space for research on the specific operation strategies of retailers’ offline and online sales channels.This paper mainly studies what changes bricks-and-mortar retailers will make in their sales channel strategies when they are affected by the epidemic.It focuses on the analysis of the changes in shopping behaviors caused by consumers becoming sensitive to social distancing due to the impact of the epidemic and the impact of the uncertainty of the quality of online shopping products on the opening of retailers’ sales channels.The pricing strategy and profit situation of different sales channels of retailers under the two situations of no competition and competition are further discussed.In the model without competition,we analyze two situations in which retail stores only open offline sales channels and open two sales channels at the same time.In the competitive model scenario,we analyze three situations in which two retailers only set up offline sales channels,one retailer only sets up offline sales channels but another retailer also sets up two sales channels,and two retailers both set up two sales channels at the same time.The results show that when there is no competition,if the retailer only chooses to open offline sales channels,the optimal pricing and maximum profit are negatively correlated with the cost coefficient of sales channels,the social distancing coefficient of consumers and the cost.If the retailer chooses to open two sales channels at the same time,The optimal pricing of the two sales channels is positively correlated with the offline sales channel cost coefficient,online sales channel cost coefficient,consumer social distancing coefficient and cost,while the rest are negatively correlated.When competition exists,the optimal pricing and maximum profit in scenario 1 are positively correlated with the offline sales channel cost coefficient and the consumer social distance coefficient.In scenario 2,the optimal pricing of retailers that only set up offline sales channels and retailers that set up two sales channels is positively correlated with the cost coefficient of offline sales channels,the cost coefficient of online sales channels,the social distancing coefficient of consumers,the cost and the perceived deviation of utility.In Scenario 3,the optimal pricing of two sales channels is positively correlated with the cost coefficient,cost and perceived deviation of online sales channels’ utility,while the rest are negatively correlated.To sum up,based on the study of retailers’ sales channel strategies and pricing strategies under the epidemic,this paper finally puts forward some business suggestions for retailers facing the epidemic environment.In the face of the epidemic,the retail industry should flexibly adjust the sales channel strategy and actively investigate consumers’ attitudes towards the epidemic,so as to meet the shopping channel requirements of consumers with different preferences for social distance and improve consumer stickiness.At the same time,retailers with online sales channels should try their best to narrow the quality difference of products sold through the two channels,so as to maximize the total sales profit of the two channels and promote the development of the industry.