基于制造商网络渠道选择的双渠道供应链定价 与服务决策研究

本文考虑由线下零售商实体销售与制造商网络销售构成的网络直销,以及由线下零售商实体销售与线上零售商网络销售构成的网络分销两种制造商双渠道模式,研究“搭便车”行为下制造商模式选择和供应链最优定价与服务决策。研究发现:制造商的渠道选择策略与“搭便车”行为程度、消费者偏好网络渠道程度、价格敏感系数等有关。尤其当消费者受到的服务且对价格的敏感性相同时,制造商会选择网络直销双渠道模式。进一步分析消费者“搭便车”行为和网络渠道偏好对制造商渠道选择和定价决策影响发现,制造商在消费者偏好网络渠道程度比较低时应选择网络分销双渠道模式,而当消费者网络渠道偏好和“搭便车”行为程度都比较高时,制造商应选择网络直销双渠道模式。消费者网络渠道偏好或“搭便车”行为程度越大,两种模式下批发价格应设置的更低。网络直销渠道模式下“搭便车”行为程度越大,网络渠道销售价格应设置的更低,而消费者网络渠道偏好程度越大,网络渠道销售价格应设置得更高。     

考虑跨渠道退货的双渠道供应链最优策略

基于零售商线上线下销售与消费者退货并存的双渠道供应链,构建考虑退货的双渠道供应链定价模型以及考虑跨渠道退货策略的双渠道供应链定价决策模型。通过理论分析和数值实验对比,研究集中决策与分散决策下的零售商最优定价策略以及总利润的变化情况,同时分析在不同退货策略下顾客偏好以及退货率对零售商定价和收益的影响。结果表明：零售商渠道的最优价格设置与顾客对渠道的偏好成正比,与退货率成正比。当顾客对某一渠道偏好程度高时,分散决策下的利润要高于集中决策,并且随着该渠道退货率的提高,这种利润差距会进一步扩大,因此零售商应实施分散决策的渠道策略,鼓励线上线下两个渠道进行竞争,从而获得更大的收益。从仿真结果可以看出,对于一般的服装产品,提供跨渠道退货服务的零售商总利润更高,在一定条件下跨渠道服务水平的投入会增加零售商的收入,但这种投入应该控制在一个合理的水平上,并保持服务与顾客回报之间的正相关关系。     

制造商引入在线渠道的双渠道价格与服务竞争策略

为了削弱传统零售商在渠道博弈中的强势地位,制造商尝试引入直接在线渠道与传统零售商竞争。针对零售商价格领导权的渠道结构,本文在分析双渠道竞争时考虑了服务在战略决策中的价值,并将消费者区分为高服务偏好的消费者和低服务偏好的消费者。研究表明,仅当产品在线适合度足够高时,在零售商占主导权的渠道中,制造商引入在线渠道的战略效果才能实现,能导致制造商利润的增加,产品在线的适合度越高,利润提高越显著。当产品在线适合度足够高时,制造商引入在线渠道能够激励零售商提高服务质量,而且产品在线的适合度越高,服务质量提高越明显;在线渠道的引入能达到制造商和零售商双赢的效果;制造商利润和零售商利润都会随着高服务偏好消费者比例和服务的边际效用的提高而增加。     

供应商管理库存下基于消费者行为偏好的全渠道运营策略

在供应商管理库存背景下,研究了消费者线上参考效应、线下库存效应以及渠道偏好对供应链成员运营策略的影响。利用微分博弈和连续型动态规划理论获得了独立运营、基于供应商服务成本分担契约的部分合作运营以及协同运营三种模式下的成员策略及绩效。由比较静态分析和对比分析发现：库存效应对生产量具正向影响,对产品质量、大数据营销服务和线下服务具负向影响;消费者不同条件下的线上偏好对企业决策有不同的影响;供应商服务成本分担契约能激励零售商提升线下产品服务,一定程度上改进企业独立运营的绩效水平。为进一步协调分散式供应链,在上述契约基础上设计了供应商收益分享及双边成本分担契约。数值算例发现：新契约在一定条件下可实现分散式供应链的完美协调;消费者参考质量过度依赖品牌商誉易产生"锚定心理",不仅会抑制成员生产和服务积极性,造成库存积压,阻碍品牌商誉积累,损害企业利润,也不利于消费者获得更好的购物体验。     

O2O模式下服务商的价格和时间决策

研究了拥有实体渠道的服务商是否应该开通O2O渠道和开通O2O渠道后服务商应该如何定价和确定服务水平的问题。首先,考虑实体渠道的等待时间对消费者效用的影响,构建了消费者渠道选择模型,得到了服务商具有定价权时服务商的渠道策略和定价策略,结果表明,消费者对实体店的等待时间的敏感度高于对价格的敏感度。其次,把价格作为常量,考虑等待时间对服务商成本的影响,研究了不具有定价权时服务商的渠道策略和服务水平策略,结果表明只有在O2O渠道价格较低和实体渠道的时间成本也较低时,服务商采用同时开通两个渠道的策略。     

博弈视角下的在线渠道决策研究

借鉴现有在线销售平台的运营模式,以在线渠道为研究对象,构建了由在线零售商和一个加盟商组成的交叉决策竞合模型.通过构建由价格和服务决定的消费者效用函数,旨在从消费者视角出发,结合最优化方法和博弈论,力图为在线渠道参与者的决策提供参考.结果表明:权力不对等时主导者能否实现最优决策要受到一定条件的限制,跟随者反而能实现最优决策,权力对等时的参与者能够同时实现最优;而且,消费者对服务的敏感程度对产品价格、服务水平以及需求具有积极作用.最后,利用数值分析进一步深化了研究,并根据结果针对性地为参与者提供了相应的建议.     

The Impact of Product Returns and Retailer's Service Investment on Manufacturer's Channel Strategies*

We study the distribution channel decision of a manufacturer who considers whether to add an online channel (direct channel) to its brick‐and‐mortar retailer (indirect channel). The retailer faces the opportunity to invest in store assistance to help consumers choose products and thus reduce product returns. Special attention is given to the impact of product returns and retailer's store assistance investment on manufacturer's dual channel decision. We examine conditions under which the manufacturer uses dual channels and how various relevant factors affect its channel decision under two settings, depending on whether the retailer has its own online store or not. When the retailer does not have its online store, we find that (i) the addition of the direct channel raises the wholesale price; (ii) the direct channel addition hurts the retailer if the nonreplacement rate is low; (iii) the manufacturer has a lower incentive to add the direct channel when the retailer's service cost is lower or its returns reduction rate from service investment is higher; and (iv) the manufacturer should treat its own returns handling cost as a key factor in its channel structure decision. In addition, when the retailer operates an online store, we find that the manufacturer may have an incentive to add a direct channel such that both firms own direct channels.     

Strategic Motive for Introducing Internet Channels in a Supply Chain

Rapid advances of information technology in recent years have enabled both the manufacturers and the retailers to operate their own Internet channels. In this study, we investigate the interaction between the capabilities of introducing the Internet channels, the pricing strategies, and the channel structure. We classify consumers into two segments: grocery shoppers attach a higher utility from purchasing through the physical channel, whereas a priori Internet shoppers prefer purchasing online. We find that when the Internet shoppers are either highly profitable or fairly unimportant, the manufacturer prefers to facilitate the channel separation either through his own Internet channel or the retailer's. In the intermediate region, however, the manufacturer encroaches the grocery shoppers and steals the demand from the retailer's physical channel. With horizontal competition between retailers, a priori symmetric retailers may adopt different channel strategies as a stable market equilibrium. The manufacturer may willingly give up his Internet channel and leverage on the retailer competition. When the manufacturer sells through an online e‐tailer, Internet shoppers may be induced to purchase through the physical channel. This reverse encroachment strategy emerges because selling through the e‐tailer leads to a more severe double marginalization problem.     

“线上销售/回收+线下服务”的闭环供应链定价与服务决策

对于“线上销售/回收+线下服务”的闭环供应链模式,研究了制造商在正向和逆向渠道中都与服务商进行收益共享情况下的最优销售/回收定价决策和最优服务水平决策,并比较了制造商领导的Stackelberg博弈、服务商领导的Stackelberg博弈、制造商与服务商Nash均衡博弈三种情形下的最优决策和最优利润。结果表明：最优的新产品销售价格和正向渠道服务水平均与正向渠道收益分成比例呈正相关;最优的废旧产品回收价格与逆向渠道收益分成比例呈负相关,而最优的逆向渠道服务水平与之呈正相关。制造商和服务商的最优利润不仅受正逆向渠道收益分成比例的影响,而且与新产品生产成本的大小有关：当新产品生产成本较小时,处于领导地位的一方获得的最优利润最大,而当新产品生产成本增大到一定程度后,对方处于领导地位时自身获得的最优利润反而最大,而双方均势时各自获得的最优利润均不占优。     

Predicting the Incremental Benefits of Online Information Search for Heterogeneous Consumers

Consumer information search (CIS), the process by which a consumer browses and inspects a shopping environment for appropriate information to select a product or service from available options, has been a research focus in the context of online business. One of the key questions related to CIS is how to determine how much information to search (i.e., when to stop searching). Extensive literature on behavioral science has revealed that consumers often search either “too little” or “too much,” even with the help of existing consumer decision support systems (CDSSs). To address this issue, this article introduces a new method of CDSSs that provides effective estimation of incremental search benefits. The method, called the personalized distribution‐based prediction method (PDM), is developed from the perspective of machine learning and utilizes consumer preference information generated by collaborative filtering (CF) algorithms. In contrast to related methods that assume that all consumers follow the same distribution function in terms of product preference, the PDM method is designed to consider the diversified search behaviors of consumers through the incorporation of heterogeneous preference distribution functions. Experiments based on data provided by Netflix illustrate that the proposed method is effective and advantageous over existing applicable techniques. Theoretical analyses are also provided to explain the advantageous performance of PDM.     

Are Self‐Service Customers Satisfied or Stuck?

This paper investigates the impact of self‐service technology (SST) usage on customer satisfaction and retention. Specifically, we disentangle the distinct effects of satisfaction and switching costs as drivers of retention among self‐service customers. Our empirical analysis examines 26,924 multi‐channel customers of a nationwide retail bank. We track each customer's channel usage, overall satisfaction, and retention over a 1‐year period. We find that, relative to face‐to‐face service, customers who use self‐service channels for a greater proportion of their transactions are either no more satisfied, or less satisfied with the service they receive, depending on the channel. However, we also find that these same customers are predictably less likely to defect to a competitor if they are heavily reliant on self‐service channels characterized by high switching costs. Through a mediation model, we demonstrate that, when self‐service usage promotes retention, it does so in a way that is consistent with switching costs. As a robustness check, we examine the behavior of channel enthusiasts, who concentrate transactions among specific channels. Relative to more diversified customers, we find that self‐service enthusiasts in low switching cost channels defect with greater frequency, while self‐service enthusiasts in high switching cost channels are retained with greater frequency.     

Online Intermediary as a Channel for Selling Quality‐Differentiated Services

When deciding whether to utilize an online intermediary in addition to their own distribution channels, quality differentiated service providers face the trade‐off between the benefit of extended reach and the threat of increased competition. Using an analytical framework, we analyze when and how service providers may utilize an online intermediary to their advantage in the presence of advance selling (i.e., selling a service at an early date for future consumption). In general, when an online intermediary is used, the competition effect dominates the reach effect and leads to a falling price trend. Interestingly, we find that the negative effect of increased competition on profits, due to intermediary usage, can be reversed by committing to self‐imposed participation limits (i.e., selling only a predetermined amount of services through the online intermediary). This ensures that the service provider is better off selling through both its own site and the online intermediary, rather than selling exclusively using either channel.      

A Study of Online Auction Sellers’ Intention to Switch Platform: The Case of Yahoo!Kimo Versus Ruten_eBay*

The study of consumers’ switching from one service provider to another has a long tradition in economics, information systems, and marketing. The emergence of electronic commerce presents new challenges in understanding consumers’ switching intentions in the context of e‐commerce in general and online auctions in particular. With the abundance of literature on online auctions, there is a surprising lack of research on auction sellers’ intentions to switch from one online auction platform to another. Using the competition between Yahoo!Kimo and Ruten_eBay, two leading auction platforms in Taiwan, as the backdrop, we developed a research model and collected empirical data based on this real case to study what factors influence auction sellers to switch to a competing service provider. We find that the higher the procedural switching costs, financial switching costs, relational switching costs, site design quality, or interaction quality, the lower the intention of an auction seller to switch to a competing auction service provider. A higher perceived transaction fee, however, leads to a higher switching intention.     

双向公平关切下双渠道供应链的线上线下融合契约设计

针对双渠道供应链中存在消费者渠道偏好和双向公平关切的问题，探究如何将线上渠道商的平台优势与线下渠道商的服务体验优势有效融合。本文基于消费者渠道偏好下制造商、线上和线下渠道商三者之间同时存在双向公平关切的情形，分别讨论有无公平关切下双渠道供应链集中与分散决策的系统定价与收益差异问题，在此基础上，引入批发价格折扣与服务成本共担契约对供应链各主体进行协调。研究表明：双向公平关切因素会进一步加剧双渠道供应链的“双重边际效应”；横向和纵向公平关切系数对制造商和渠道商效用的影响趋势存在差异，且其可以分别增强和削弱消费者的讨价还价能力；通过将契约比例设置在一定区间内，能够促进制造商、线上和线下渠道商形成一个互补协作且融合的共赢模式。     

First Step in Social Media: Measuring the Influence of Online Management Responses on Customer Satisfaction

With the growing influence of online social media, firms increasingly take an active role in interacting with consumers in social media. For many firms, their first step in online social media is management responses, where the management responds to customers' comments about the firm or its products and services. In this article, we measure the impact of management responses on customer satisfaction using data retrieved from a major online travel agency in China. Applying a panel data model that controls for regression toward the mean and heterogeneity in individual preference for hotels, we find that online management responses are highly effective among low satisfaction customers but have limited influence on other customers. Moreover, we show that the public nature of online management responses introduces a new dynamic among customers. Although online management responses increase future satisfaction of the complaining customers who receive the responses, they decrease future satisfaction of complaining customers who observe but do not receive management responses. The result is consistent with the peer‐induced fairness theory.     

Demand Growth in Services: A Discrete Choice Analysis of Customer Preferences and Online Selling

The selling of perishable services (e.g., hotel rooms, airline seats, and rental cars) online is increasingly popular with both retailers and consumers. Among the innovative approaches to online sales is opaque selling. First popularized by Priceline.com's name‐your‐own‐price model, opaque selling hides some attributes of the service (notably, brand and specific location) until after the purchase decision, in exchange for a discounted price. This means that a branded “product” is being sold as somewhat of a commodity, but the brand “name” is protected by the opaque model. The attraction of this model for retailers is that they are presumably able to increase their revenue stream, albeit at a lower rate, by selling rooms that otherwise would remain in inventory. In this article, we outline the development and analysis of an online choice survey to understand consumer preferences among three types of online distribution channels: regular full information sales channels, and opaque sales channels with or without consumer bidding. A Multinomial Logit model is employed to analyze the data and measure the consumer trade‐offs between price and other attributes of the product. We use the estimated model to calculate the incremental demand and revenue created by using an opaque channel simultaneously with regular full information channels. On balance, we find that correctly priced opaque channels can add to hotels revenue streams without undue cannibalization of regular room sales.     

O2O模式下考虑消费者参考效应和成员互惠利他的产品——服务供应链微分博弈

成员的互惠利他行为是影响企业决策的重要行为因素,消费者的质量和服务水平参考效应也是影响消费者购买决策的重要行为因素,本文将三者纳入到一个制造商和一个O2O销售模式的零售商构成的产品-服务供应链中,同时考虑运作模式的内在动态性,构建了制造商和零售商间的微分博弈模型。借助贝尔曼连续型动态规划理论,分析了分散、集中、互惠利他三种决策模式下的制造商质量水平策略、零售商服务水平策略以及供应链系统绩效,并对其进行了对比分析。研究表明:相比于分散决策模式,互惠利他行为有助于成员制定更高的质量和服务水平,提高品牌商誉,获得更大效用。数值算例验证了所得结论,并进行了消费者质量和服务水平参考效应、渠道偏好以及成员互惠利他行为对供应链绩效影响的敏感性分析。算例结果表明:1)消费者的参考效应使消费者产生“锚定心理”,导致制造商降低质量水平,零售商降低服务水平,也损害了产品-服务供应链的绩效。消费者的渠道偏好对供应链成员策略和绩效有着重要影响;2)零售商应鼓励消费者进行线上购买产品,并以线下渠道的服务作为销售辅助措施,满足消费者的体验效用;3)成员的互惠利他行为作为一种正向社会偏好能够对分散决策模型下的供应链绩效进行帕累托改进,并且会获得额外的社会福利;4)当且仅当制造商和零售商具有纯利他行为偏好,即具有最低回报程度和最高利他程度时,供应链的总利润能够达到集中决策情形。     

Self‐Service Operations at Retail Stores: The Role of Inter‐Customer Interactions

Inter‐customer interactions are important to the operation of self‐services in retail settings. More specifically, when self‐service terminals are used as part of customers’ checkout processes in retail operations without the explicit involvement of retailers as the direct service providers, inter‐customer interactions become a significant managerial issue. In this article, we examine the impact of inter‐customer interactions at retail self‐service terminals on customers’ service quality perceptions and repeat purchase intentions at retail stores. We conduct a scenario‐based experimental design (N = 674) using a 2 × 2 factorial design in which inter‐customer interactions are divided into “positive” vs. “negative” and occur during the “waiting” or during the actual “transaction” stages of self‐services at a retail store. We use attribution theory to develop the hypotheses. The results demonstrate that, through their interactions, fellow customers can exert influences on a focal customer's quality perceptions and repeat purchasing intentions toward a retail store. Furthermore, these influences were impacted by how customers attribute blame or assign responsibility toward the retail store. Service operations managers should leverage these interactions by designing into self‐service settings the capacities and interfaces that are best suited for customers’ co‐production of their self‐service experiences.     

Paradoxes of Online Investing: Testing the Influence of Technology on User Expectancies*

At an increasing rate, individual investors are taking personal control over their financial destinies by investing their money online. Compared to offline do‐it‐yourself approaches, evidence suggests that investors exhibit lofty expectations and perform significantly worse after going online. However, little is understood about the mechanisms fueling expectancies, the role technologies play in their formation, or how technologies shape investment decisions. Therefore, this article explores the paradoxical nature of online investing technologies, which can give rise to a heightened state of conviction in one's capability to invest successfully. Drawing on Social Cognitive Theory, the concepts of encapsulation and combination are introduced to develop a research model describing how functional and technical self‐efficacy judgments independently and collectively shape and influence outcome expectancies. The results suggest that perceptions about what one can accomplish through online investing technologies can lead investors to exaggerate their capabilities, which, in turn, produces elevated expectancies of financial payoffs and nonmonetary rewards. These findings carry important implications. In tasks requiring both computing and functional skills, the principals of encapsulation and combination highlight the importance of comprehensively capturing self‐efficacy beliefs across skill domain boundaries. Moreover, online investing represents a paradoxical case that challenges the traditional assumption that fostering a robust sense of efficacy represents a purely noble enterprise. In fact, strong self‐efficacy beliefs can prove counterproductive, leading to severe, irreversible, and unintended consequences. Going forward, these discoveries provide a solid foundation to enhance systems designs and facilitate a deeper understanding of user psychology.     

Building a Model of Technology Preference: The Case of Channel Choices

Intention theories, such as the Theory of Reasoned Action, the Theory of Planned Behavior, and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), have been widely adopted to explain information system usage. These theories, however, do not explicitly consider the availability of alternative systems that users may have access to and may have a preference for. Recent calls for advancing knowledge in technology acceptance have included the examination of selection among competing channels and extending the investigation beyond adoption of a single technology. In this study, we provide a theoretical extension to the TAM by integrating preferential decision knowledge to its constructs. The concept of Attitude‐Based Preference and Attribute‐Based Preference are introduced to produce a new intention model, namely the Model of Technology Preference (MTP). MTP was validated in the context of alternative behaviors in adopting two service channels: one a technology‐based online store and the other a traditional brick‐and‐mortar store. A sample of 320 responses was used to run a structural equation model. Empirical results show that MTP is a powerful predictor of alternative behaviors. Furthermore, in the context of service channel selection, incorporating preferential decision knowledge into intention models can be used to develop successful business strategies.