Research On Return Strategy Of Omnichannel Supply Chain Considering Differentiated Service

With the development of the Internet,online channels have made up for the shortcomings of traditional physical channels and gradually become the mainstream sales channels.However,the high return rate and high reverse logistics costs caused by their virtuality are the challenges faced by online channel management and operation at this stage.With the continuous enrichment of enterprises’ understanding of sales channels,traditional offline channel relationship with online channels gradually from competition to merge.Many manufacturers,such as Best Buy,Wal Mart and IKEA,have successively launched the omnichannel return service of Buy Online and Return to Store(BORS).Based on this,whether the omnichannel return strategy can alleviate the problem of online returns and increase supply chain revenue,and when it is appropriate to adopt the omnichannel return strategy is a question worth studying.This paper discusses the problem of omnichannel return under different supply chain structures(retailer resale and manufacturer direct selling)and decision-making modes(centralized decision-making and decentralized decision-making),constructs a game model of return supply chain considering the dual effects of service differentiation and consumer heterogeneity,and uses backward induction method to solve the optimal pricing decision of supply chain under each situation.The influence of relevant factors on pricing,demand and profit is analyzed to provide theoretical reference for the optimal return strategy selection of the supply chain.Finally,the omnichannel practice case of Uniqlo is used to verify the correctness of relevant conclusions.Taking the emerging omnichannel return strategy as the research object,this study enriched the theoretical system of omnichannel management applied in reverse supply chain.Combined with the actual situation,this paper considers the service differences of different channels in shopping and returns,describes the heterogeneity of consumers with Hotelling model,simulates more real consumption scenes,and provides scientific decision support for omnichannel practice,which has certain innovative value.The study shows:(1)Under the resale supply chain structure of retailers,product pricing is positively correlated with the unit distance cost of consumers.When the service level exceeds the threshold,the omnichannel return strategy will lead to an increase in pricing,but under certain conditions,the omnichannel return strategy can reduce the total return volume.With the increase of online matching rate and unit distance cost coefficient,the superiority of the omnichannel return strategy will be weakened,and even negative benefits will be brought when the threshold is exceeded.(2)Under the structure of the manufacturer’s direct sales supply chain,if an omnichannel return strategy is adopted and centralized decision-making is made,the pricing of this structure is lower compared to when retailers resell,and the total return quantity is less.Moreover,when the online matching rate is higher than the offline matching rate,the demand for BORS channels is greater.When making decentralized decisions,only when the online matching rate is higher,the pricing of each channel is lower and the demand for BORS channels is greater;On the contrary,the conclusion is opposite.(3)In different supply structures,centralized decision-making is always better than decentralized decision-making.When online channels become the leaders of decentralized decision-making,the omnichannel return strategy has a wider scope of application and greater profit increment,making it easier to leverage the advantages of omnichannel return strategies.(4)Service-related factors have a significant impact on omnichannel return strategies.When consumer service perception coefficient is high and supply chain service costs are low,omnichannel return strategies are more suitable;If on the contrary,traditional return strategies may be more effective in avoiding cost increases.(5)With the increase of the differentiation coefficient of return service,the total profit of the omnichannel supply chain shows a trend of first increasing and then decreasing in all situations.There exists an optimal return service differentiation to maximize profit.Enterprises should provide reasonable differentiated services based on specific decision-making methods and their own actual situation.