Research on a new fresh food logistics sharing mode under carbon tax policy

PurposeThe current development of e-commerce in fresh food industry has struggled in a bottleneck, while traditional physical retailers (T-retailers) also struggle in the O2O transformation process. To solve those operational problems, this paper aims to propose a new fresh food logistics (FFL) sharing mode (FLS mode) between T-retailers and E-retailers, illustrate its operation, feasibility and value.Design/methodology/approachWe illustrate the operation and feasibility of FLS mode through literature analysis. Furthermore, we use Stackelberg models to stimulate a fresh food supply chain theoretically and investigate the FLS mode’s impacts through comparison and numerical analysis.FindingsFirst, a low competition intensity between channels always benefits the firms and consumers. Second, FLS mode could reduce the offline retail price and market demand simultaneously. Third, the firms could benefit from FLS mode, especially with the development of e-commerce in fresh food market. Last, consumer surplus in the offline channel is more at risk of decreasing after FLS. Particularly, FLS mode could show its best value in the online dominated market with low price-sensitive consumers and loose carbon tax policy.Originality/valueWe provide a logistics sharing strategy for T-retailers and E-retailers, give specific managerial insights for T-retailers who have great cold chain logistics systems, such as Walmart, Yonghui, etc. as well as those E-retailers who deliver fresh food through third-party logistics (3PL), such as Meituan Preferred, DuoDuo Grocery etc. In this case, T-retailers could enlarge their income sources, and E-retailers also could improve their product freshness.