IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joreco/v70y2023ics0969698922002739.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Channel strategies for dual-channel firms to counter strategic consumers

Author

Listed:
  • He, Peng
  • He, Yong
  • Zhou, Li

Abstract

Nowadays some giant firms have attempted to sell products through different channels over different periods to mitigate channel conflict. This paper considers a dual-channel firm who has access to online/Clicks (C) and offline/Bricks (B) channels in the presence of strategic consumer behavior. We focus on the two-period selling setting where the firm could sell products through one of these channels in each period and mainly investigate four channel structures: (1) selling products through the pure online channel over two periods (Channel CC); (2) selling products first through the online channel and then through the offline channel (Channel CB); (3) selling products through the pure offline channel over two periods (Channel BB); (4) selling products first through the offline channel and then through the online channel (Channel BC). The main novelty of this paper is twofold. Theoretically, this study develops four intertemporal channel operations models and explores the optimal pricing and channel strategies for dual-channel firms over two periods by considering strategic consumers. Practically, the research results suggest that dual-channel firms should adopt the preannounced pricing strategy instead of the dynamic pricing strategy in terms of countering strategic consumers. More importantly, Channel CB can be used as a tactic to effectively alleviate consumers’ strategic consumer behavior. Specifically, when the differentiation between the online and offline channels is relatively high, Channel CB is performing better than Channel BB, and vice versa.

Suggested Citation

  • He, Peng & He, Yong & Zhou, Li, 2023. "Channel strategies for dual-channel firms to counter strategic consumers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:70:y:2023:i:c:s0969698922002739
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2022.103180
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969698922002739
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jretconser.2022.103180?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chen, Jen-Ming & Chang, Chia-I, 2013. "Dynamic pricing for new and remanufactured products in a closed-loop supply chain," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(1), pages 153-160.
    2. Ilan Lobel & Jigar Patel & Gustavo Vulcano & Jiawei Zhang, 2016. "Optimizing Product Launches in the Presence of Strategic Consumers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(6), pages 1778-1799, June.
    3. Yiangos Papanastasiou & Nicos Savva, 2017. "Dynamic Pricing in the Presence of Social Learning and Strategic Consumers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(4), pages 919-939, April.
    4. Khouja, Moutaz & Liu, Xin & Zhou, Jing, 2020. "To sell or not to sell to an off-price retailer in the presence of strategic consumers," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    5. Gan, Shu-San & Pujawan, I. Nyoman & Suparno, & Widodo, Basuki, 2017. "Pricing decision for new and remanufactured product in a closed-loop supply chain with separate sales-channel," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 120-132.
    6. He, Yi & Wang, Hang & Guo, Qiang & Xu, Qingyun, 2019. "Coordination through cooperative advertising in a two-period consumer electronics supply chain," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 179-188.
    7. Dong, Ciwei & Yang, Yunpeng & Zhao, Ming, 2018. "Dynamic selling strategy for a firm under asymmetric information: Direct selling vs. agent selling," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 204-213.
    8. Zhou, Erfeng & Zhang, Juzhi & Gou, Qinglong & Liang, Liang, 2015. "A two period pricing model for new fashion style launching strategy," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 144-156.
    9. Yan, Wei & Xiong, Yu & Xiong, Zhongkai & Guo, Nian, 2015. "Bricks vs. clicks: Which is better for marketing remanufactured products?," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 242(2), pages 434-444.
    10. Farshbaf-Geranmayeh, Amir & Zaccour, Georges, 2021. "Pricing and advertising in a supply chain in the presence of strategic consumers," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    11. Jena, Sarat Kumar & Meena, Purushottam, 2022. "Shopping in the omnichannel supply chain under price competition and product return," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    12. Zhang, Peng & He, Yong & Shi, Chunming (Victor), 2017. "Retailer's channel structure choice: Online channel, offline channel, or dual channels?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 37-50.
    13. Tilson, Vera & Zheng, Xiaobo, 2014. "Monopoly production and pricing of finitely durable goods with strategic consumers׳ fluctuating willingness to pay," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 217-232.
    14. Chen, Jing & Zhang, Hui & Sun, Ying, 2012. "Implementing coordination contracts in a manufacturer Stackelberg dual-channel supply chain," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 571-583.
    15. Benny Mantin & Eran Rubin, 2016. "Fare Prediction Websites and Transaction Prices: Empirical Evidence from the Airline Industry," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(4), pages 640-655, July.
    16. He, Peng & He, Yong & Tang, Xiaoying & Ma, Shigui & Xu, Henry, 2022. "Channel encroachment and logistics integration strategies in an e-commerce platform service supply chain," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    17. Khorshidvand, Behrooz & Soleimani, Hamed & Sibdari, Soheil & Seyyed Esfahani, Mir Mehdi, 2021. "Revenue management in a multi-level multi-channel supply chain considering pricing, greening, and advertising decisions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    18. Wang, Wei & Li, Gang & Cheng, T.C.E., 2016. "Channel selection in a supply chain with a multi-channel retailer: The role of channel operating costs," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 54-65.
    19. Genc, Talat S. & Giovanni, Pietro De, 2017. "Trade-in and save: A two-period closed-loop supply chain game with price and technology dependent returns," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(PB), pages 514-527.
    20. Zhang, Yumeng & Hezarkhani, Behzad, 2021. "Competition in dual-channel supply chains: The manufacturers' channel selection," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 291(1), pages 244-262.
    21. Chenxu Ke & Bo Yan, 2022. "Trade-in value effects of used products in remanufacturing with considering consumer purchase behavior," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 73(3), pages 608-633, March.
    22. Dasu, Sriram & Tong, Chunyang, 2010. "Dynamic pricing when consumers are strategic: Analysis of posted and contingent pricing schemes," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 204(3), pages 662-671, August.
    23. Chuang, Chia-Hung & Wang, Charles X. & Zhao, Yabing, 2014. "Closed-loop supply chain models for a high-tech product under alternative reverse channel and collection cost structures," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 108-123.
    24. He, Yong & Zhao, Xuan & Krishnan, Harish & Jin, Shibo, 2022. "Cooperation among suppliers of complementary products in repeated interactions," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 252(C).
    25. Choi, Tsan-Ming & Chen, Yue & Chung, Sai Ho, 2019. "Online-offline fashion franchising supply chains without channel conflicts: Choices on postponement and contracts," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 174-184.
    26. Pei, Zhi & Wooldridge, Barbara Ross & Swimberghe, Krist R., 2021. "Manufacturer rebate and channel coordination in O2O retailing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    27. Khouja, Moutaz & Liu, Xin, 2021. "A price adjustment policy for maximizing revenue and countering strategic consumer behavior," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    28. Wei, Jie & Zhao, Jing & Li, Yongjian, 2013. "Pricing decisions for complementary products with firms’ different market powers," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 224(3), pages 507-519.
    29. Chaab, Jafar & Salhab, Rabih & Zaccour, Georges, 2022. "Dynamic pricing and advertising in the presence of strategic consumers and social contagion: A mean-field game approach," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    30. Wu, Meng & Ran, Yun & Zhu, Stuart X., 2022. "Optimal pricing strategy: How to sell to strategic consumers?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    31. Karray, Salma & Martín-Herrán, Guiomar & Sigué, Simon Pierre, 2022. "Managing advertising investments in marketing channels," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    32. Yen-Ting Lin & Ali K. Parlaktürk & Jayashankar M. Swaminathan, 2018. "Are Strategic Customers Bad for a Supply Chain?," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 20(3), pages 481-497, July.
    33. Zhen-Song Chen & Sheng Wu & Kannan Govindan & Xian-Jia Wang & Kwai-Sang Chin & Luis Martíınez, 2022. "Optimal pricing decision in a multi-channel supply chain with a revenue-sharing contract," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 318(1), pages 67-102, November.
    34. Gérard P. Cachon & Robert Swinney, 2011. "The Value of Fast Fashion: Quick Response, Enhanced Design, and Strategic Consumer Behavior," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(4), pages 778-795, April.
    35. Zhao, Ju & Qiu, Ju & Zhou, Yong-Wu & Hu, Xiao-Jian & Yang, Ai-Feng, 2020. "Quality disclosure in the presence of strategic consumers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    36. He, Peng & He, Yong & Xu, Henry, 2019. "Channel structure and pricing in a dual-channel closed-loop supply chain with government subsidy," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 108-123.
    37. Xu, Guangye & Dan, Bin & Zhang, Xumei & Liu, Can, 2014. "Coordinating a dual-channel supply chain with risk-averse under a two-way revenue sharing contract," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(PA), pages 171-179.
    38. Huang, Hongfu & He, Yong & Chen, Jing, 2019. "Competitive strategies and quality to counter parallel importation in global market," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 173-197.
    39. Alaei, Amir Mohammad & Taleizadeh, Ata Allah & Rabbani, Masoud, 2022. "Marketplace, reseller, or web-store channel: The impact of return policy and cross-channel spillover from marketplace to web-store," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    40. Hu, Shu & Dai, Ying & Ma, Zu-Jun & Ye, Yu-Sen, 2016. "Designing contracts for a reverse supply chain with strategic recycling behavior of consumers," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 16-24.
    41. Zhang, Shichen & Zhang, Jianxiong & Zhu, Guowei, 2019. "Retail service investing: An anti-encroachment strategy in a retailer-led supply chain," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 212-231.
    42. Li, Dan & Chen, Jing & Liao, Yi, 2021. "Optimal decisions on prices, order quantities, and returns policies in a supply chain with two-period selling," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 290(3), pages 1063-1082.
    43. Karray, Salma & Sigue, Simon P., 2016. "Should companies jointly promote their complementary products when they compete in other product categories?," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 255(2), pages 620-630.
    44. Huang, Lingchen & Huang, Zongsheng & Liu, Bin, 2022. "Interacting with strategic waiting for store brand: Online selling format selection," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    45. Chen, Xu & Wang, Xiaojun, 2015. "Free or bundled: Channel selection decisions under different power structures," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 11-20.
    46. Fernando Bernstein & Victor Martínez-de-Albéniz, 2017. "Dynamic Product Rotation in the Presence of Strategic Customers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(7), pages 2092-2107, July.
    47. Jun Li & Nelson Granados & Serguei Netessine, 2014. "Are Consumers Strategic? Structural Estimation from the Air-Travel Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(9), pages 2114-2137, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Guo Chen & Jiapeng Chen, 2023. "Reverse Logistics Network Model of Dual-Channel Recycling Boxes Based on Genetic Algorithm Optimization: A Multi-Objective and Uncertain Environment Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-24, March.
    2. Lessassy, Léopold, 2023. "Investigating a three-way interaction of manufacturer control, retail control and dependence on salesforce performance. Does the role of frontline employees matters ?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    3. Sarkar, Biswajit & Kar, Sumi & Basu, Kajla & Seo, Yong Won, 2023. "Is the online-offline buy-online-pickup-in-store retail strategy best among other product delivery strategies under variable lead time?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    4. Chauhan, Ruchi & Majumder, Arunava & Kumar, Varun, 2023. "The impact of adopting customization policy and sustainability for improving consumer service in a dual-channel retailing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Liu, Jingchen & Zhai, Xin & Chen, Lihua, 2019. "Optimal pricing strategy under trade-in program in the presence of strategic consumers," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 1-17.
    2. He, Peng & He, Yong & Xu, Henry, 2019. "Channel structure and pricing in a dual-channel closed-loop supply chain with government subsidy," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 108-123.
    3. Liu, Zhuojun & Zhang, Michael & Chen, Jing & Diallo, Claver, 2023. "Buy now or later? New or remanufactured? How to attract strategic customers," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    4. Ghobadi, Somayeh Najafi- & Bagherinejad, Jafar & Taleizadeh, Ata Allah, 2021. "A two-generation new product model by considering forward-looking customers: Dynamic pricing and advertising optimization," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    5. Ling Zhao & Anquan Zou & Minghua Xiong & Jun Liu, 2023. "Supply Chain Performance with a Downside-Risk-Averse Retailer and Strategic Customers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-18, February.
    6. Sun, Cuiying & Zhang, Xiong & Zhou, Yong-Wu & Cao, Bin, 2022. "Pricing, financing and channel structure for capital-constrained dual-channel supply chains with product heterogeneity," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    7. Davoudi, Zahra & Seifbarghy, Mehdi & Sarkar, Mitali & Sarkar, Biswajit, 2023. "Effect of bargaining on pricing and retailing under a green supply chain management," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    8. Liu, Jingchen & Zhai, Xin & Chen, Lihua, 2018. "The interaction between product rollover strategy and pricing scheme," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 201(C), pages 116-135.
    9. Qiu, Ruozhen & Sun, Yue & Zhou, Hongcheng & Sun, Minghe, 2023. "Dynamic pricing and quick response of a retailer in the presence of strategic consumers: A distributionally robust optimization approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 307(3), pages 1270-1298.
    10. Pietro De Giovanni & Georges Zaccour, 2022. "A selective survey of game-theoretic models of closed-loop supply chains," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 314(1), pages 77-116, July.
    11. Lin Zhao & Zongyu Mu, 2021. "Channel Strategies for the Two-Period Closed-Loop Supply Chain with E-Commerce," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-33, June.
    12. Pietro Giovanni & Georges Zaccour, 2019. "A selective survey of game-theoretic models of closed-loop supply chains," 4OR, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 1-44, March.
    13. Huang, Lingchen & Huang, Zongsheng & Liu, Bin, 2022. "Interacting with strategic waiting for store brand: Online selling format selection," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    14. Yiangos Papanastasiou & Nicos Savva, 2017. "Dynamic Pricing in the Presence of Social Learning and Strategic Consumers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(4), pages 919-939, April.
    15. Tahirov, Nail & Glock, Christoph H., 2022. "Manufacturer encroachment and channel conflicts: A systematic review of the literature," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 302(2), pages 403-426.
    16. Haodong Chen & Hengyi Zhang & Eias Al Humdan & Mohammed Alharithi & Yu Gong, 2023. "Research on Multi-Channel Supply Chain Decisions Considering Carbon Emission Cost and Consumer Loyalty," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-28, July.
    17. Ehsan Shekarian & Simme Douwe Flapper, 2021. "Analyzing the Structure of Closed-Loop Supply Chains: A Game Theory Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-32, January.
    18. Matsui, Kenji, 2023. "Dual-recycling channel reverse supply chain design of recycling platforms under acquisition price competition," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    19. Dror Hermel & Benny Mantin & Yossi Aviv, 2022. "Can coupons counteract strategic consumer behavior?," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(3), pages 262-273, June.
    20. Minghua Xiong & Xiaopo Zhuo, 2023. "Brand-Owners’ Exclusive Channel Strategies in Multitier Supply Chains: Effect of Contract Unobservability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-23, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:70:y:2023:i:c:s0969698922002739. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-retailing-and-consumer-services .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.