Research On Platform Retailers’ Store Brand Strategies Under Different Sales And Manufacturing Models

In recent years,in order to increase their bargaining power and seek new revenue growth opportunities,an increasing number of platform retailers have started to introduce their store brand products to compete with national-brand manufacturers.Additionally,with the growing severity of environmental issues and the increasing consumer awareness of environmental protection,many commercial enterprises have also begun to focus on green products.However,existing research on the green investment and sourcing strategy for store brands is still insufficient,and the impact of brand manufacturers’ online sales models and green manufacturing mode choices on platform retailers’ store brand strategies needs to be further clarified.In light of this,based on the perspective of platform retailers,this paper analyzes the issues related to the introduction strategy of store brand by constructing a game pricing model led by the platform retailer,considering the different online sales mode(reselling and agency selling)and green manufacturing strategies(traditional manufacturing and green manufacturing)choices of national brand products.Firstly,this paper investigates the platform retailers’ store brand introduction and sourcing strategies under two mainstream sales models for national brand products: traditional reselling mode and platform agency selling mode.The results show that the platform retailer’s decision to introduce its store brand is influenced by the quality level of the store brand products,the fixed production costs of internal production,and the sales model for manufacturing national brand products.In the reselling model,platform retailers can always benefit from introducing store brand,and in-house production is the best choice when the fixed cost of in-house production is low,otherwise the store brand products should be outsourced to third-party manufacturers;however,in the agency selling model,if the quality of the store brand products is high and the fixed production costs of internal production are also relatively high,platform retailers will not introduce the store brand.Moreover,higher quality store brand product is not always better for the retailer.In the agency selling model,the introduction of high-quality store brand may exacerbate competition between national brand products and store brand products,leading to reduced profits for the retailer.In this case,introducing a moderately high-quality store brand is more advantageous for both manufacturer and retailer.Secondly,this paper further incorporates product greenness into consideration and analyzes the impact of manufacturers’ manufacturing mode choices on platform retailers’ store brand introduction and green investment strategies.The study found that the degree of substitution between store brand products and national brand products is an important factor affecting the platform retailer’s decision to introduce the store brand.As the degree of substitution between the two products increases,the platform retailer’s optimal strategy gradually shifts from not introducing store brand to introducing a green store brand.Specifically,when the product substitution rate is moderate and there is a certain potential market for store brand products,the platform retailer’s store brand strategy is also influenced by the national brand product manufacturing mode.If the manufacturer produces ordinary non-green products,the platform retailer’s optimal strategy is to create a green store brand;otherwise,it should not create its store brand,that is,the manufacturer can prevent the platform retailer from introducing store brands through green manufacturing strategies.In addition,the strengthening of consumer preferences for green products is generally advantageous for supply chain members to obtain greater profits,but when both parties choose to produce green products,the manufacturer may suffer profits losses due to high green investment costs.