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.     

Browse‐and‐Switch: Retail‐Online Competition under Value Uncertainty

Although online shopping is becoming popular, consumers who are unsure about whether to buy a product may find it advantageous to visit a brick‐and‐mortar retail store to first examine the product before purchasing it. But, after browsing at the store, consumers have the option of switching to an e‐tailer to purchase the item at a cheaper price rather than buying at the store. Recent business press refers to this browse‐and‐switch behavior as “showrooming,” and attributes to it the declining profits of brick‐and‐mortar retailers. To study the effect of the browse‐and‐switch option on retail and online pricing strategies and profits, we analyze a stylized economic model that incorporates uncertainty in consumers' valuation of the product, captures the heterogeneity among consumers in their inclination to purchase online, and permits product returns. We consider various equilibrium scenarios for different combinations of consumer shopping behaviors, characterize the parameter ranges for each scenario, and demonstrate that browse‐and‐switch behavior can indeed occur under equilibrium. Our analysis further shows that the option for consumers to browse‐and‐switch intensifies competition, reducing the profits for both firms.     

考虑异质消费者的线下到线上供应链合作广告契约设计

本文针对一个拥有线上渠道的制造商和一个零售商组成的线下到线上(O2O)供应链,考虑渠道产品差异化策略下零售商为制造商线上渠道进行广告引流,刻画消费者对产品的异质性需求,分别设计对称信息和不对称信息下制造商的最优合作广告契约,通过对比两种情形中最优决策及利润的变化分析信息不对称的影响,并进一步探讨不对称信息下消费者渠道转换的麻烦成本、单位不匹配成本等重要参数对合作广告契约设计和供应链成员利润的影响。研究发现:不对称信息下,制造商可以策略性选择三种不同策略以最大化自身利润,其中不甄别零售商真实信息的混同均衡在某些条件下是制造商的最优策略;尽管信息不对称会给制造商带来利润损失,但制造商通过策略选择可缓和信息不对称的不利影响,某些条件下信息不对称并不损害供应链总体的利润;麻烦成本的变化会改变制造商不对称信息下最优合作广告契约的策略选择,某些条件下麻烦成本的增高对制造商利润反而存在正影响。最后,通过数值仿真对上述研究结果进行直观考察和说明。     

Optimal Control of Selling Channels for an Online Retailer with Cost‐per‐Click Payments and Seasonal Products

The problem studied in this paper is a predigestion of the decision faced by online retailers (etailers) that advertise on publisher or comparison‐shopping websites. An etailer may sell its product not only through its online and bricks‐and‐mortar stores, but also through the websites of one or more third parties (e.g., Yahoo.com). However, the etailer has to pay a certain amount to such third parties in an action‐based payment scheme, such as a cost‐per‐click (CPC) scheme. Under the CPC scheme, payment is based solely on click‐throughs, which means that the etailer pays only when a shopper clicks through to the product page of its website. Only a fraction of such clicks lead to actual sales. The extra cost that is associated with shoppers who first click through to the third‐party websites makes them less attractive as customers than those who directly visit the etailer's online store. Moreover, the CPC rate for a prominent placement is normally set by competitive bidding, and thus varies over time. Therefore, the etailer needs to decide dynamically whether or not to list on a third‐party website. The structural properties of the optimal policy are discussed, and numerical examples are given to show the revenue impact of dynamic listing control.     

全渠道零售商退货方式和定价研究

本文以全渠道零售商不同渠道的定价为背景,以企业利润最大化为目标,以顾客退货给零售商带来的损失为出发点,从三种不同的退货方式分析退货损失对零售商不同渠道最优定价和利润的影响。首先分析传统的原渠道退货(即：从购买产品的渠道退货),然后分析所有顾客都通过线上渠道退货,进而分析所有顾客都通过线下渠道退货。研究表明：三种退货方式下,当零售商与顾客的线上单位产品净退货损失之和小于线下单位产品净退货损失之和时,全渠道零售商选择全部退货到线上渠道可获得最大利润;当零售商与顾客的线上单位产品净退货损失之和大于线下单位产品净退货损失之和时,全渠道零售商应选择全部退货到线下的退货方式以获得最大利润;传统的退货方式不会让零售商获得最大利润。本文研究对于全渠道零售虑顾客退货损失的基础上,设置最合理的退货方式和不同渠道之间的最优定价有一定的指导意义和实际应用价值。     

基于制造商O2O模式选择的O2O供应链定价与网上交货期决策

以制造商主导的O2O供应链为背景,考虑市场需求受价格和网上交货期的影响,针对网上直销和网上代销两种O2O模式分别构建O2O供应链定价与网上交货期决策模型,研究渠道成员的最优策略并分析其性质。再通过数值算例分析了价格敏感型消费者情境和网上交货期敏感型消费者情境下消费者网上销售渠道偏好程度和佣金率对O2O供应链最优策略和利润的影响,并探讨了制造商O2O模式的选择问题。发现：消费者网上销售渠道偏好程度越高,越有利于制造商和O2O平台,但不利于线下门店;佣金率越高,越有利于线下门店和O2O平台,却不利于制造商。当消费者更关注网上交货期时,缩短网上交货期并不利于制造商;而当消费者更关注价格时,延长网上交货期是有利的。制造商的O2O模式选择主要受佣金率的影响,只有当佣金率处于较低范围时网上代销O2O模式是制造商的较优选择。     

考虑线下权力结构的制造商线上销售模式选择研究

在线下垂直实力对等、制造商主导和实体店主导三种渠道权力结构下，构建制造商、实体店和电商之间的博弈模型，探讨线下渠道权力结构与制造商线上销售模式的匹配关系。研究结果表明：（1）当电商要求的佣金比例较小时，在不同的线下渠道权力结构下，制造商都应该选择线上代销模式；而当电商要求的佣金比例较大时，在线下垂直实力对等结构下，制造商应该选择线上转销模式，而在制造商主导和实体店主导结构下，制造商应该选择线上代销模式。（2）当制造商选择线上转销模式时，在线下制造商主导的结构下，制造商给予实体店的批发价格最大，在垂直实力对等结构下次之，在实体店主导结构下最小。然而，线下渠道权力结构的差异并不会影响制造商给予电商的批发价格。（3）当制造商选择线上代销模式时，在线下制造商主导结构下，线下销售价格最高；在线下垂直实力对等结构下，线上销售价格最高。     

不对称信息下线上零售商定价与O2O渠道策略研究

针对由制造商和线上零售商组成的供应链，考虑消费者退货行为以及产品退货会给企业造成退货损失，且线上零售商退货损失为其私有信息，研究不对称信息下的供应链定价、O2O渠道策略以及合同设计问题，分析线上零售商引入O2O渠道的可行条件及其对供应双方最优决策和消费者剩余的影响，考察不对称信息对各个企业、供应链系统利润的影响。研究表明，线上零售商引入O2O渠道存在可行条件，取决于退货损失的大小；当线上零售商引入O2O渠道时，制造商和供应链系统的期望利润水平均能得到有效提升；O2O渠道策略有利于提高消费者剩余，但到体验店体验产品的消费者不一定能够得到更高的消费者剩余；如果满足一定条件，则线上零售商会选择信息共享谈判与制造商共享其私有信息，进而实现"双赢"。     

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。     

面向网络零售平台的合作广告策略研究

制造商通过第三方网络零售平台开展直销渠道已经成为普遍模式。除价格策略外，广告宣传是企业获得消费者最常用的策略之一，已有研究表明，合作广告策略可有效协调供应链冲突和优化绩效，但在新零售模式中，传统渠道和网络渠道的特点使得网络零售平台和传统零售商的广告宣传对不同销售渠道的影响更加复杂和有趣，因此本文研究网络零售平台的参与对制造商合作广告策略的影响。在文中通过数学建模的方法比较制造商的四种不同策略：不合作策略、制造商仅与传统零售商合作的策略、制造商仅与网络零售平台合作的策略和制造商与两者均合作的策略，通过对不同策略中渠道成员的利润进行比较，可得以下结论：1）制造商的最佳策略为同时与传统零售商和网络零售平台合作；2）当两渠道的广告存在相互"搭便车"行为时，渠道成员之间最优策略一致；3）当网络、传统渠道的广告宣传为竞争关系时，渠道成员的最优策略不一致，但存在"相对"最优策略：传统零售商和网络零售平台同时与制造商合作，该策略下传统零售商、网络零售平台的利润可能会降低，但降低比例为最小。     

Contracting in a Supply Chain with Stochastic Demand and Substitute Products

Retailers often stock competing products from multiple manufacturers. When the retailer stocks out of a particular item, customers who prefer the item are likely, with some probability, to switch to a substitute product from another manufacturer at the same store. In such an event, a “lost sale” for the manufacturer is not a “lost sale” for the retailer. This exacerbates differences in manufacturer's and retailer's stockout costs for the item. Such differences in stockout cost influence the optimal contract between the manufacturer and the retailer and also impose agency costs on the channel. Such contracts, in turn, determine equilibrium inventory levels and fill rates. We study these issues in a single‐period supply chain, consisting of a manufacturer and a retailer, under three different scenarios (when the two firms are integrated into a single entity, when the retailer makes stocking decisions, and when the manufacturer makes stocking decisions). We compare, and present a methodology for comparing, stocking quantities, manufacturer efforts, and supply chain profits across different scenarios. We find that VMI performs better when manufacturer effort is a substantial driver of consumer demand and when consumers are unlikely to substitute to another brand in case of a stockout. On the other hand, if non‐contractible manufacturer effort is unimportant, or when substitution is significant, VMI can exacerbate, rather than mitigate, channel inefficiencies, and can perform worse than traditional Retailer Managed Inventory.     

Optimal Order Quantities with Remanufacturing Across New Product Generations

We address the problem of determining the optimal retailer order quantities from a manufacturer who makes new products in conjunction with ordering remanufactured products from a remanufacturer using used and unsold products from the previous product generation. Specifically, we determine the optimal order quantity by the retailer for four systems of decision‐making: (a) the three firms make their decisions in a coordinated fashion, (b) the retailer acts independently while the manufacturer and remanufacturer coordinate their decisions, (c) the remanufacturer acts independently while the retailer and manufacturer coordinate their decisions, and (d) all three firms act independently. We model the four options described above as centralized or decentralized decision‐making systems with the manufacturer being the Stackelberg leader and provide insights into the optimal order quantities. Coordination mechanisms are then provided which enable the different players to achieve jointly the equivalent profits in a coordinated channel.     

基于风险规避的双渠道制造商在线推介策略研究

研究了风险规避对双渠道制造商在线推介策略的影响。首先，以零售商、制造商风险中性为基准模型考察制造商推介策略，发现当推介市场规模较小时，制造商仅推介官方商城；当推介市场规模较大时，制造商选择都推介策略。然后，分别考察零售商或制造商风险规避特性对推介策略的影响，发现当推介市场规模居中时，若市场竞争强度较小，则随着风险规避程度的增大，制造商推介策略由仅推介官方商城转变为都推介；若市场竞争强度较大，则零售商风险规避情况下推介策略由都推介转变为仅推介官方商城，但制造商风险规避情况下推介策略不变。最后，通过算例形式分析了零售商和制造商都风险规避时制造商的推介策略。     

Supply Chain Conflict Due to Store Brands: The Value of Wholesale Price Commitment in a Retail Supply Chain*

Store brands are of increasing importance in retail supply chains, often causing channel conflict, as the retailer's product directly competes with the manufacturer's national brand. Extant research on the resulting channel interactions either assumes the national brand manufacturer can credibly commit to maintaining a wholesale price or that he lacks such ability. However, these two scenarios imply very different supply chain interactions, as only a national brand manufacturer with commitment ability can strategically adjust a national brand wholesale price to prevent a store brand introduction by the retailer. We specifically analyze the impact of this assumption on the manufacturer, the retailer, and the customers. We determine when long‐term contracts that provide the manufacturer with such commitment ability can improve supply chain profitability.     

双边不确定性条件下制造商质量投资与零售商销售努力决策

已有研究较少同时考察供应链中制造商产品质量信号传递和零售商销售努力调整的问题。本文考虑零售商通过努力水平改变市场需求,且制造商分摊一定比例销售努力成本的情形,制造商在决定进行质量投资后,双方对制造商能否成为高质量类型各有不同的信念,零售商只能通过观察制造商提供的契约来修正关于制造商类型的信念,并确定产品销售价格与销售努力水平。构建博弈模型分析了双方的质量投资决策、销售努力决策、定价决策以及成本分摊比例。结果表明,在不考虑质量投资成本的情形下,制造商的质量投资能够达到帕累托最优。为了激励零售商付出最优促销努力水平,销售契约中规定销售成本分摊比例与惩罚措施,由于讨价还价的存在,实际的销售成本分摊比例小于对制造商最有利的成本分摊比例。对零售商而言,制造商承担的销售成本分摊比例并非越高越好,这意味着如果超过一定范围,制造商的成本分摊反而会损害零售商的利益。     

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。     

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。     

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.     

Supply chain coordination through cooperative advertising with reference price effect

Cooperative advertising, which usually occurs in a vertical supply chain, is typically a cost sharing and promotion mechanism for the manufacturer to affect retail performance. Research in the literature, however, rarely considers the important phenomenon that advertising has a positive effect on the consumer's reference price. In fact, when a consumer makes a decision to buy a product or not, a reference price is usually in his mind and plays a determinant role. Taking into account the impact of advertising on the reference price, this paper proposes a dynamic cooperative advertising model for a manufacturer–retailer supply chain and analyzes how the reference price effect would influence the decisions of all the channel members. In our model, both the consumer's goodwill and reference price for the product are assumed to be influenced by the advertising and are modeled in differential dynamic equations. In addition, the advertising level, the consumer's goodwill and the reference price are all assumed to have positive effect on sales. Utilizing differential game theory, this paper formulates the optimal decisions of the manufacturer and the retailer in two different game scenarios: Stackelberg game and cooperative game. Also, this paper proposes a new mechanism to coordinate the supply chain in which both the manufacturer and the retailer share each other's advertising costs.     

Joint Mail‐In Rebate Decisions in Supply Chains Under Demand Uncertainty

We study the joint decisions of offering mail‐in rebates (MIRs) in a single‐manufacturer–single‐retailer supply chain using a game theoretic framework. Either party can offer an MIR to the end consumer if it is in his best interest. The consumer demand is stochastic and depends on the product price and the amount of MIRs. When the retail price is exogenous, we show the existence of a unique Nash equilibrium under both additive and multiplicative demand functions and characterize it completely. We show that any of the following four scenarios can be the equilibrium: both parties offer MIR, only one party offers MIR, none offers MIR. When the retail price is a decision variable for the retailer and the rebate redemption rate increases with the amount of MIR, we once again prove the existence of a unique Nash equilibrium where both the retailer and the manufacturer offer MIRs. Using a numerical study, we show that the average post‐purchase price of the product is higher not only than the perceived pre‐purchase price but also than the newsvendor optimal price without an MIR. This implies that an MIR makes a product look cheaper while the consumers actually pay more on average.