Traditional Retail Channel Research Articles

Purchase spillovers from the metaverse to the real world: The roles of social presence, trialability, and customer experience

AbstractThe promise of the metaverse as a collective, virtual, and shared social space is revolutionizing digital retail. This study provides groundbreaking insights into customer experience in immersive metaverse environments, as well as into how these experiences on metaverse platforms influence customers' real‐world consumption behaviors. Drawing upon data from metaverse platform users in the US, this study identifies the specific antecedents of a positive customer experience on metaverse platforms, including the role of social presence and trialability. Further, it demonstrates the potential for purchase spillovers from the metaverse to traditional retail channels, extending the omnichannel retail literature. In addition, it examines how early‐stage versus long‐term users of the metaverse shape users' intentions to revisit metaverse platforms. Based on our results, we offer a comprehensive model of customers' metaverse behaviors, which may be used to predict and enhance customers' purchase intentions across channels. Our results also demonstrate that the metaverse is not merely a parallel digital retail channel but instead an influential extension of the customers' real‐world consumption. From a managerial perspective, we offer metaverse operators and retail brand managers insights into how an engaging and immersive customer experience in the metaverse can be developed to support metaverse platform growth, and targeted brand strategies that translate into real‐world gain for both the brand and the customer. The findings suggest that metaverse platforms must deliver customer experiences at a very high level to prevent stagnation in metaverse usage intentions; therefore, managers can confidently continue investing in relevant strategies to fuel metaverse platform growth.

A review paper on driving forces behind webrooming behavior of consumers

The paper provides a detailed understanding of webrooming, a popular shopping trend that resulted from the convergence of traditional and internet retail channels. The study aims to examine the primary factors influencing webrooming behavior of consumers. The set of articles for review were extracted from Google Scholar Database which were further reviewed with a qualitative approach. The findings of the review suggests that major drivers of webrooming behavior amongst all are consumer’s need to touch and feel the product, requirement of sales staff assistance, need of socialisation etc. The authors suggest that retailers should work on strategizing their business policies by keeping the identified drivers in mind so that webrooming can be combated to the maximum possible extent. The study also proposes potential research ideas that can help in better understanding of this newly emerged shopping trend.

Increases in retail sales of over-the-counter levonorgestrel emergency contraception in the United States, 2016–2022

ObjectivesTo understand patterns in demand for emergency contraception (EC), we characterize the sales of over-the-counter (OTC) levonorgestrel (LNG) EC in the United States from traditional retail outlets. Study designWe describe sales of OTC LNG EC using retail sales data aggregated from traditional retail channels, including grocery stores, drug stores, mass merchandisers, club stores, dollar stores, and military outlets. ResultsSales of OTC LNG EC doubled between 2016 and 2022 (approximately 7.2–14.8 million). ConclusionsIncreasing sales of EC are consistent with increased use and use frequency of EC by those at risk of pregnancy in the United States. ImplicationsOTC LNG EC sales since 2016 exceed what national survey usage estimates would suggest, indicating that national surveys underreport EC use, those using EC purchase it somewhat frequently, and/or individuals stockpile EC for later use. The role of EC in individual contraceptive strategies, particularly as access to reproductive healthcare is restricted, warrants further study.

WeStore or AppStore: How Customers Shop Differently in Mobile Apps vs. Social Commerce

In the dynamic e-commerce environment, social commerce has emerged as a revolutionary force, transforming how consumers interact and transact online. This paper investigates the differences in customers’ search and purchase patterns between a prominent online retailer’s burgeoning social commerce channel, the WeChat mini-program, and its native mobile app. We analyze the customers’ entire journey through a sequential search model that encapsulates decisions from channel selection to product search, search termination, and the final purchase. This study contributes to the search model literature by being the first to estimate both fixed and marginal search costs in a sequential search model in an omnichannel retail environment. We calculate fixed search costs, marginal search costs, and preferences for each channel, revealing differences in customers’ behaviors across channels. Our analysis shows that customers’ fixed search costs are higher, but marginal costs are lower on WeChat channel compared to the App channel. Also, customer characteristics like historical spending levels and search timing influence their search costs. From these insights, we suggest strategies tailored to each channel capitalizing on the differences in customers’ search costs. The first strategy encourages search initiation by lowering fixed search costs through peer-to-peer link sharing in the WeChat channel. The second strategy aims to minimize marginal search costs using search-triggering coupons in the App channel. Implementing these strategies significantly boosts conversion rates and profits for the online retailer. This research is one of the first to explore the differences between traditional retail channels and emerging social commerce channels.

Dynamic Analysis of a Dual-Channel Closed-Loop Supply Chain with Heterogeneous Players and a Delay Decision

This paper considers a dual-channel closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) consisting of a manufacturer who wholesales new products through the traditional retail channel and distributes remanufactured products via a direct (online) channel established by himself. Two dynamical Stackelberg game models are developed based on the assumption that the retailer is an adaptive player, and the manufacturer is a bounded rational player who may adopt a delay decision. The existence and locally asymptotic stability of the Nash equilibrium are examined. Moreover, the impacts of key parameters on the complexity characteristics of the models and the performance of chain members are studied by numerical simulation. The results reveal that the excessively fast price adjustment speeds of the manufacturer, the larger consumers’ discount perception for the remanufactured products, and the consumers’ preference for the direct channel have a strong destabilizing effect on the Nash equilibrium’s stability. Furthermore, the delay decision implemented by the manufacturer could be a stabilizing or destabilizing factor for the system. The manufacturer will tolerate a considerable profit reduction while the retailer gains more profits when the dual-channel CLSC system enters periodic cycles and chaotic motions.

The interaction between manufacturer-encroachment and information sharing in a closed-loop supply chain under technology licensing

This paper investigates the interaction between a retailer’s information sharing behaviour and a manufacturer’s encroachment strategies in a closed-loop supply chain in which the manufacturer licenses a third party to remanufacture. We apply the Stackelberg game to obtain the optimal pricing and production decisions and show that, information sharing always brings a profit increase to the manufacturer while a profit loss to the retailer. The retailer may be willing to share information in presence of manufacturer encroachment. We also show that, no matter whether the manufacturer remanufactures by himself or licenses the third party to remanufacture, the encroachment case is always profitable to the manufacturer due to the dual revenues from both the producing and marketing activities. In addition, whether the encroachment case is beneficial for the retailer is contingent on the encroachment cost. Specifically, when the encroachment cost is high enough, the encroachment case dominates the no-encroachment case because the manufacturer prefers to sell more products through the traditional retail channel rather than the direct selling channel. These results provide a new insight into information sharing and manufacturer-encroachment in a closed-loop supply chain.

A STUDY ON THE IMPACTS OF E - COMMERCE ON DOMESTIC RETAILERS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO CHENNAI

The advent and rapid proliferation of e-commerce have ushered in transformative changes in the retail landscape, impacting domestic retailers across various dimensions. This research paper aims to comprehensively analyze the multifaceted impacts of e-commerce on traditional domestic retailers. Through an examination of pertinent literature, empirical data, and case studies, this study sheds light on the economic, technological, and social ramifications of e-commerce adoption by domestic retailers. The paper explores how e-commerce has altered consumer behaviour, redefined market dynamics, and introduced new challenges and opportunities for brick-and-mortar retailers. It also delves into the strategies employed by domestic retailers to adapt to the evolving retail ecosystem, emphasizing the significance of omnichannel approaches and technological integration. Furthermore, the paper addresses the implications of these changes on employment patterns, urban spaces, and regulatory frameworks. The method used here was the empirical method. The sampling method taken here was the convenient sampling method and the sample size was 200. The sampling frame was set within Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The dependent variables are level of awareness regarding the impacts of domestic retailers, major impacts faced by the retailers after the development of E-commerce business, main advantages of selling through e-commerce platforms compared to traditional retail channels, e-commerce has affected traditional brick-and-mortar retail stores in India and the independent variables are age, gender, educational qualification, salary and occupation. The research tools used here are simple bar charts, independent sample T test, univariate analysis of variance and correlation. By offering a comprehensive analysis of the impacts of e-commerce on domestic retailers, this research paper contributes to a deeper International Journal of Scientific Research in Engineering and Management (IJSREM) Volume: 07 Issue: 10 | October - 2023 SJIF Rating: 8.176 ISSN: 2582-3930 © 2023, IJSREM | www.ijsrem.com DOI: 10.55041/IJSREM26287 | Page 2 understanding of the dynamic interplay between traditional and online retail paradigms, while also providing insights into potential pathways for sustainable coexistence in the ever-evolving retail landscape. KEYWORDS: Convenience and availability, Distribution channel, E - commerce, Impacts on retailers, Traditional retailers.

Analysis of a dual-channel green supply chain game-theoretical model under carbon policy

In today's worldwide markets, supply chain members have to control carbon emissions for a clean environment. This study addresses a dual-channel green supply chain model by contemplating dual selling channels, carbon diminution rate and online delivery lead-time as marketing efforts to fascinate customers to buy more products. Moreover, the carbon tax protocol, green technology, carbon cap-and-trade protocol are applied to the supply chain to save the environment by reducing carbon emissions. The customers' demands for both the direct and traditional retail channels are dependent on direct selling price, retail price, carbon reduction rate, and delivery lead-time of online products. The objective of this work is to maximise the supply chain profit by minimising the amount of carbon emissions. To determine optimal outcomes, a centralised system, manufacturer-leadership Stackelberg game and retailer-leadership Stackelberg game are employed. A comparison among the centralised system and the two Stackelberg games is also carried out. The results presented that to enhance the profits of the manufacturer as well as retailer and to decline carbon emissions, manufacturer-leadership Stackelberg game is the adequate game policy. Some managerial inspirations of this proposed work are listed. The paper ends with conclusions and possible future research directions.

Discounting strategies' effects on a closed-loop dual-channel environmentally friendly supply chain of complementary products under sales effort

ABSTRACT The relevance and impact of the internet are growing in every aspect of daily life, particularly in business which has the potential to address a lot of issues and transform many conventional techniques and procedures, including distribution. Many manufacturers have expanded their traditional retail channels to include a channel to trade the products to consumers exclusively. This paper investigates the pricing decision and the effect of discounting in a dual-channel closed-loop supply chain with two green complementary products by exploring the market demand is linearly correlated with the product selling prices, sales effort level and green innovation level. Here, four different models are analysed analytically under a game-theoretic methodology and then validated the findings using a numerical example. Additionally, the sensitivity analysis is performed to investigate the impacts of a few significant critical parameters on the supply chain participants. The findings of the article demonstrate how environmentally and economically advantageous green innovation can raise profits throughout the supply chain. Also, it is worth noting that sales efforts contribute to an increase in supply chain profit. Moreover, the discounts policy proves to be more profitable when the discount rate surpasses a specific threshold.

Pricing and greening decisions of a government-subsidised dual-channel closed-loop green supply chain model with price-dependent collection rate

ABSTRACT Online shopping has become increasingly popular among customers due to the availability and easy accessibility of electronic devices. Hence, a manufacturer would like to open an online platform with his traditional retail channel. Government subsidies are endogenised in a research joint venture based on recent observations. Here, government subsidies are assumed to increase the production of eco-friendly products to be much more environmental friendly. The retailer and third-party collector collect used products from the customer and return them to the manufacturer for recycling. Demand rates are modelled as linear functions of selling prices and the level of green innovation. The collection rates are considered linear functions of collecting fees and the level of green innovation. The study investigates three decentralised models under three scenarios and the centralised model. A sensitivity analysis is composed to study the effects of the essential parameters. Critical managerial insights have been provided, which is beneficial for the supply chain members. If the cost co-efficient of green innovation can be reduced, then the optimal level of green innovation and the members' profits increase. Again the governmental subsidy is directly proportional to the level of green innovation and the manufacturer's profit.

Gains and Losses of Key Opinion Leaders’ Product Promotion in Livestream E-commerce

In livestream e-commerce, many brand-owners use the key opinion leaders (KOLs) for product promotion and sales, especially in the direct-selling channel. Is such a practice really beneficial to the brand-owner? In practice, we even observe that KOLs sell and then return products for a strong network externality. Therefore, to formulate the brand-owner's tradeoffs of using KOLs, we compare the brand-owner's profits with and without a KOL (i.e., brand-owner uses a KOL for product promotion vs. brand-owner invests in product promotion by itself) in a dual-channel system comprised of the brand-owner's direct-selling channel and its traditional retail channel. We find the brand-owner's gains/losses of using the KOL highly depend on the commission rate, retain rate and the network externality intensity. Interestingly, we reveal that the enhanced KOL effect might not be necessarily beneficial to the brand-owner and can even hurt it significantly. As the channel rival, the retailer may benefit from the brand-owner's using the KOL (because its procurement cost may be lowered) and the market expansion (because the use of KOL may spill over to the retail channel).

Cooperative Advertising in Dual-Channel Supply Chain Under Asymmetric Demand Information

ABSTRACT This study investigates cooperative advertising and retailers’ demand- information sharing in a dual-channel supply chain consisting of a manufacturer and a retailer, where the manufacturer sells products through a traditional retail channel and a direct online channel. Owing to the spillover effect of advertising, the manufacturer pays local advertising expenditure at a certain ratio to pump sales in both channels. In this setting, we examine the influence of information sharing on the optimal advertising expenditure, pricing mechanism, and performance of the manufacturer and retailer. The results show that the manufacturer benefits from information sharing, whereas the retailer benefits when the retail channel accounts for a small market share. Moreover, the more significant spillover effect of advertising increases the probability that the retailer shares information voluntarily. This study contributes to the literature by simultaneously considering information asymmetry and manufacturers’ advertising participation rate in the cooperative advertising problem. We find that a supplementary effect exists between cooperative advertising and information sharing, which provides guidelines to companies. If manufacturers set a higher advertising participation rate, the probability of signing an information-sharing contract with retailers increases. Moreover, retailers’ information sharing can induce manufacturers to offer a higher participation rate.

Sales mode selection strategic analysis for risk-averse manufacturers under revenue sharing contracts

This paper considers a sales mode selection problem under revenue sharing contracts between resale and agency modes for risk-averse manufacturers with traditional retail channel, direct selling channel, and e-commerce platform channel. By considering the factors including price competition intensity, market share, revenue sharing ratio, commission rate, and degree of risk aversion, we construct leader-follower game models with manufacturers as leaders and traditional retailers and e-commerce platforms as followers. To obtain optimal solutions, we discuss conditions to ensure the upper and lower models to be convex and then give the optimal strategies for all members in the network. Through numerical experiments, we analyze the involved parameters’ impact on sales mode selection strategy and the changing trends of each member's optimal pricing and profit under different sales modes. The numerical results reveal the following revelations: The manufacturer should choose the agency mode when the commission rate is low and the direct selling channel has a large market share. If both the commission rate and degree of risk aversion are high, direct selling channels have a low market share, and price competition intensity is weak, the manufacturer should choose the resale mode. The degree of risk aversion has an effect on each member’s optimal decision. Regardless of which sales mode the manufacturer chooses, the optimal price of each member decreases as the degree of risk aversion increases. Under certain conditions, the manufacturer’s choice of agency mode can create win-win situations with supply chain members.

Pricing and advertising in dual-channel supply chains: real applications for coffee processing and distribution companies

ABSTRACT In the present research, the local and global dynamic advertising and competitive pricing are considered in the form of an integrated differential game model in the dual-channel supply chain of a coffee processing company. Furthermore, integrated mathematical analyses are presented to examine the equilibrium paths of the game. One of the main novelties of this study is to consider the state variable as the amount of credibility that is given to the customer by the global advertising of the manufacturer. According to the results, the equilibrium price of online sales is higher than the retail price. Furthermore, the advertisement volume of the manufacturer in the online channel is more than the local advertisement volume of the retailer, and the advertisement volume of the retailer is more than the global advertisement volume of the manufacturer. In this case, the profit of the manufacturer in the online channel is always more than the profit of the retailer in the traditional retail channel. Therefore, activities of the direct online channel can lead to an increase in profits, however, the conflict of channels could reduce the demands through the traditional retail channel. The sensitivity of equilibrium levels of optimal variables are also analyzed.

Sales Mode Selection Strategic Analysis for Manufacturers on E-Commerce Platforms under Multi-Channel Competition

This paper considers a sales mode selection problem between resale and agency modes on e-commerce platforms for a manufacturer with traditional retail channel, direct selling channel, and e-commerce platform channel. By considering the factors price competition, market shares, and commission rate, we construct two leader-follower models with the manufacturer as a leader and traditional retailer and e-commerce platform as followers. To obtain optimal solutions, we discuss the conditions under which the upper and lower models are convex and then give optimal strategies for all members in the network. Through numerical experiments, we analyze the impact of price competition intensity, market shares, and commission rate on mode selection strategies and the changing trend of each member’s optimal pricing and profit under different sales modes. The numerical results reveal the following revelations: If the market share of the traditional retail channel is lower than the direct selling channel, the manufacturer should choose the agency mode when the market share of the direct selling channel and price competition are lower or when the market share of the direct selling channel together with the price competition and the commission rate is higher; otherwise, the manufacturer should choose the resale mode. If the market share of the direct selling channel is lower than the traditional retail channel, the manufacturer should choose the agency mode when the price competition is weak and choose the resale mode when the price competition is strong. Under certain conditions, a win–win situation can be achieved no matter how the manufacturer chooses.

Determination of optimal price and quantity in a two-echelon supply chain model with promotional effort and feedback effect in stochastic scenario

The present paper analyzes a dual channel two-echelon supply chain model consisting of one manufacturer and one retailer for a single product. The retailer uses traditional retail channel whereas the manufacturer uses e-tail channel as well as retail channel to boost the sales of the product. Customer feedback is an important factor in present global business environment because from the customer feedback, the manufacturer can reveal the level of satisfaction of the customers and this can help the to improve the product quality. Good feedback from the customers also attracts other new customers to buy the products. A company can never know whether customers are getting value out of their product without customer feedback. The effects of getting customer feedback from the customers and the promotional effort by advertising or by sales team’s initiatives are taken into account in the present model. The model is solved analytically to determine the decision variables which maximize the total profit in case of decentralized as well as centralized systems and the results have been illustrated by numerical examples. The study of this paper reveals that the profit margins of the individual channel members increase considerably if the feedback of the customers on the product is considered.

Pricing and manufacturing strategy of dual-channel green supply chain under common product competition

As consumers' green demand continues to rise, the competition between ordinary products and green products is becoming more and more intense. In order to study the impact of product competition and consumer green demand on product price and product greenness, as well as the optimal manufacturing strategy of dual-channel green supply chain, for a manufacturer and a retailer that can produce common products and green products, a set of The dual-channel supply chain composed of traditional retail channels and online direct sales channels, according to the different production modes of manufacturers, established a dual-channel supply chain game model of traditional production mode, green production mode and mixed production mode, and compared the products under the three production modes Price, greenness, and manufacturer's profit are verified with examples. The results show that: based on the consistent pricing strategy, consumer channel preference directly affects product price and greenness; product competition and consumer green demand sensitivity coefficients both promote product prices and product greenness; the manufacturer's optimal manufacturing strategy For the mixed production mode.

Optimal pricing policy in a three-layer dual-channel supply chain under government subsidy in green manufacturing

As global governments pay more attention to environmental issues, the idea of environmental protection has now been incorporated into the supply chain, and green supply chain management has become particularly significant. As such, this paper proposes a three-layer green supply chain model with a dual-channel structure consisting of a supplier, a manufacturer, and a retailer. The manufacturer sells the product through a (a) traditional retail-channel or (b) direct online-channel. The manufacturer sets a green product standard, while the government offers a subsidy to the manufacturer for green investment. We analyze the optimal decision under government subsidy and no government subsidy to maintain the profit maximization criteria of the supply chain. In addition, both the centralized and decentralized marketing strategies are evaluated using the Stackelberg game approach. To achieve the best pricing decisions for supply chain members, we compare the optimal pricing under consistent and inconsistent sales prices in both online and offline channels. The prime objective of the paper is to explore and compare the optimal pricing strategy with and without government subsidy pertaining to maximizing the overall profit of the supply chain. The numerical illustration and sensitivity analysis indicate that government subsidy can reduce the cost of green items and is beneficial to both manufacturer and supplier. Our research findings can lead to better decisions with and without government subsidy for members of the dual-channel green supply chain as well as enhance green product market competitiveness.

What Do They Want? The Effect of Logistics Quality on Direct-to-Consumer Customer Satisfaction

Direct to consumer (D2C) business models, characterized by firms that design, source, and sell products directly to consumers bypassing traditional retail channels, are a relatively new phenomenon. One aspect we know little about is under what conditions consumers are willing to utilize a D2C channel, specifically, the degree to which the logistic service quality and information quality of user experience matter in choice of channel. Moreover, as these firms directly compete with Amazon’s delivery capability, we need to ask to what extent the so called “Amazon effect” impacts customer expectations. This study addresses these questions by conducting a scenario-based experiment which evaluates the effect of logistics service quality (LSQ) and online user experience (OUX) on customer satisfaction (CS), as moderated by price relative to Amazon (PRA). We find that LSQ has the largest positive effect on customer satisfaction, followed by OUX. Price moderates negatively (lessens) the effect of LSQ on customer satisfaction. Paradoxically, price also moderates the effect of OUX on CS, but counter-intuitively, strengthens it. The findings are reviewed in light of the so-called “Amazon effect”, the tendency of consumers to set their expectations for logistics at the levels of performance consistently provided by Amazon.com. Potential implications of the findings for the further evolution and growth of the D2C industry are presented.

Dual-channel supply chain coordination considering credit sales competition

Credit sales not only help sellers expand sale size and promote competitiveness, but also relieve the pressure of customers cash flow, but inevitably increases channel conflict and generates capital opportunity cost. This article attempts to consider a dual-channel supply chain operation decision and coordination under credit sales transactions for the first time, in which the supplier and the retailer compete on the credit period provided to the final customers, and the market demand is random and depends on credit period. This paper develops and analyzes the mathematical models of the dual-channel supply chain expected profit maximization under centralized, decentralized and coordinated decision making structures. A decision framework for a dual-channel supply chain considering credit sales competition and random demand is given, in which the supplier decides on wholesale price and online direct sales channel credit period, and the retailer decides on traditional retail channel credit period. This study finds that the fierce credit sales competition is bad for the dual-channel supply chain, and classical coordination contracts such as wholesale price joint trade credit contract have limitations in the dual-channel supply chain coordination considering credit sales competition. To stimulate channel members to make optimal decisions while optimizing their expected profits, a two-part credit contract based on asymmetric Nash bargaining is proposed. The research results reveal that the proposed contract can not only achieve the dual-channel supply chain coordination considering credit sales competition, but also achieve Pareto improvements of all members. Finally, the performance of different models is compared by numerical examples and sensitivity analyses, the effectiveness of the proposed contract is proved, and some managerial insights are given.