Research On E-commerce Distribution Strategy:from The Perspective Of Supply Chain Power Structure

With the rapid development of the Internet and e-commerce,online shopping has become a daily shopping method for consumers.The scale of e-commerce transactions has increased year by year,and e-commerce logistics distribution has become a hot topic for both consumers and relevant stakeholders.In rea l life,the logistics distribution models of drone distribution,smart cabinet self-raising,convenience supermarket cooperation points,subway station convenience points,etc.,bring higher level of distribution services to consumers.The logistics service providers need to balance the logistics investment operation cost and logistics service level,and strive to improve the satisfaction of the consumer logistics service while obtaining higher economic benefits.In practice,online retailers,traditional manufacturing companies,and third-party logistics service providers are constantly investing on the e-commerce logistics distribution.When different supply chain players undertake e-commerce logistics distribution,they separately make different logistics services and pricing decisions based on their own interests.In addition,the power structure of supply chain determines the decision-making power of supply chain members,which affects supply chain decision and related profits.Therefore,it is necessary to comprehensively study the impact of both logistics distribution choice and power structure in e-commerce supply chain.Based on the above research background,this paper divides the e-commerce logistics distribution mode into three categories: self-operated logistics,third-party logistics and logistics alliance mode from the perspective of logistics distribution investment and operation.Especially,the self-operated logistics model includes manufacturer-invested logistics and e-retailer-invested logistics.Jointly combined with the characteristics of supply chain decision-making,this paper divides the above four logistics distribution modes into two categories: centralized distribution strategy(logistics alliance distribution strategy)and decentralized distribution strategy(manufacturer-invested logistics distribution strategy,online retailer-invested logistic distribution strategy and third-party logistics distribution strategy).In addition,in view of the influence of power structure on supply chain decision-making,this paper selects two power structures of Stackelberg competition,namely MS competition,where the supply chain is dominated by traditional manufacturer and LS competition,led by logistics service providers.The supply chain decision and related profit of the four logistics distribution strategies are comprehensively compared under the two power structure scenarios,so that the impact of power structure and distribution strategy on e-commerce supply chain can be jointly revealed.The model considers the deterministic market demand function which is affected by both logistics service and retail price,and specifically emphasizes the structure of logistics cost through fixed investment costs and variable costs affected by the level of logistics services.The results show that compared with the other three distribution strategies,the online retailer's distribution strategy has the best performance in the supply chain,namely,the highest level of logistics services,the largest market demand,and the largest total profit.The power structure affects supply chain decisio n-making.The supply chain decisions and related profit conditions are different under different power structures.Interestingly,under the same strategy and power structure,the manufacturer can always gain higher or even double profits than the e-retailer.In general,improving the logistics investment conversion rate,increasing the logistics distribution fee or improving the logistics operation efficiency can improve the supply chain logistics service level,market demand and supply chain related profits.The research results not only enrich the e-commerce supply chain decision-making research considering the supply chain power str ucture and logistics distribution strategy,but also provide support of management decision for different e-commerce supply chain players.