Abstract
Purpose – There is particularly high loss rate for fresh agricultural products (FAP) in the operation of actual supply chain and the development of FAP e-commerce is hindered to some extent. The purpose of this paper is to solve the customer to business (C2B) pre-sale problems of FAP supply chain, in which a third-party logistics service provider (TPLSP) participates in decision-making, to increase the income of each member and to ensure that consumers can obtain the freshest FAP. Design/methodology/approach – This paper considers the C2B pre-sale strategies as a three-echelon fresh FAP supply chain, where the supplier pre-sell products through the online retailers. The market demand in the online channel depends on the retailer’s service level, the pre-sale discount rate and the logistics service efforts of TPLSP. Findings –Stackelberg game method is adopted to study the equilibrium strategies of a supplier-led FAP supply chain under centralized and decentralized decision-making with the existence of a TPLSP, and the optimal pre-sale discount rate, the optimal online service level and the optimal logistics service price provided by TPLSP in the two decision modes are obtained, as well as the optimal profits of the supply chain and each member. Practical implications – The paper provides a practical guideline to managers in fresh products industry in terms of how to cooperate with other supply chain members so as to maximize total profit and to achieve Pareto improvement, and at the meantime, to supply the freshest and safest products to the target market under e-commerce environment. Originality/value – For the e-commerce supply chains with TPLSP participates in decision-making, there are few studies which considers the FAP pre-sale, especially consider the case that the market demand for FAP is affected by freshness and online selling price per unit simultaneously. This paper takes these cases into account, establishes the corresponding mathematical model, and designs a coordination mechanisms.
Highlights
Owing to the seasonality, corrosion and perishability of fresh agricultural products (FAP), it is quite difficult to improve their economic benefits through traditional marketing vehicles
The third-party logistics service provider (TPLSP) is fully aware of the demand of the consumers' logistics services, which enables it to execute a time-saving, labor-saving and money-saving logistics service plan and ensure that the FAP are delivered to the consumers with the most satisfactory logistics service
3 The total profit of supply chain under centralized decision making is higher than the sum of profit of the supplier, online retailer and the TPLSP
Summary
Corrosion and perishability of fresh agricultural products (FAP), it is quite difficult to improve their economic benefits through traditional marketing vehicles. In a C2B pre-sale pattern, the online retailers will publish the presale information on the electronic business platform before the fresh products are fully grown, allowing the customers to place orders online. As the service level of TPLSP influences the quality of FAP and the profits of the supply chain members, the supplier and online retailers have to consider the behaviors of the TPLSP when deciding their operational strategies. We aim to work out the optimal strategies of supply chain members, which may increase their own profits and ensure the consumers to get the freshest products from their original area, and to a certain extent, decrease the unsalable FAP caused by asymmetric information.
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