Distributor’s Lot-sizing and Pricing Policy with Ordering Cost inclusive of a Freight Cost under Trade Credit in a Two-stage Supply Chain

Abstract

As an effective means of price discrimination, some suppliers offer trade credit to the distributors in order to stimulate the demand for the product they produce. The availability of the delay in payments from the supplier enables discount of the distributor’s selling price from a wider range of the price option in anticipation of increased customer’s demand. Since the distributor's lot-size is affected by the demand for the customer, the distributor’s lot-size and the selling price determination problem is interdependent and must be solved at the same time. Also, in many common business transactions, the distributor pays the shipping cost for the order and hence, the distributor’s ordering cost consists of a fixed ordering cost and the shipping cost that depend on the order quantity. In this regard, we deal with the joint lot-size and price determination problem when the supplier allows delay in payments for an order of a product. The positive effects of credit transactions can be integrated into the EOQ (economic order quantity) model through the consideration of retailing situations, where the customer’s demand is a function of the distributor’s selling price. It is also assumed that the distributor’s order cost consists of a fixed ordering cost and the variable shipping cost. We formulate the distributor’s mathematical model from which the solution algorithm is derived based on properties of an optimal solution. A numerical example is presented to illustrate the algorithm developed.