Competition in the Multi-Channel Supply Chain with a Self-Logistics-type E-Platform

Abstract

Self-logistics-type e-platforms have enjoyed a rapid growth. In sales, some of them only serve as a service provider, matching buyers with sellers. But some of them have become a seller, selling directly to the customer. In logistics, some of them do not open the self-logistics to the third-party sellers, but some of them do open. As a result, a new form of channel conflict emerged. Therefore, the authors consider a self-logistics-type e-platform, who can sell directly to consumers; and a single retailer, who sells through the e-platform without self-logistics, but who may choose to contract with e-platform to deliver its products through the self-logistics. Thus, key questions for the e-platform are whether to sell directly to the customer; if they sell, the decision is whether to deliver the products through self-logistics and whether to open the self-logistics. To solve these questions, the optimal decisions of the retailer and self-logistics-type e-platforms and the system equilibrium results are analyzed under different situations. Finally, the logic tree to get the overall equilibrium is obtained.