Research On Pricing Decision Of Dual Channel Supply Chain Considering User Returns

With the rapid development of e-commerce,many large retailers have adopted a sales model that integrates online and physical retail channels to increase sales and improve service levels.Due to the inability of consumers to accurately evaluate the suitability of products in advance under the online sales model,the return volume has significantly increased compared to physical channels.Before purchasing a product,consumers will understand the return model provided by the retailer and measure the troublesome costs or losses incurred due to returns,thus deciding whether to purchase or not.Therefore,developing an economically friendly return policy is an important issue that dual channel retailers need to address.The behavior of consumers returning goods to physical stores can trigger potential purchasing behavior and bring potential benefits to omnichannel retailers.This article refers to this benefit as cross benefit.Here,the alternating profit and loss problem of return losses and cross benefits puts the return decision of dual channel retailers in a dilemma.In addition,due to the particularity of some products and the shift in people’s consumption concepts,the second-hand market has begun to emerge.In addition,China’s rapidly growing primary market has provided sufficient idle sources of goods for the second-hand market,and many overseas second-hand specialty stores have also expanded their business scope to China.However,there are also many retailers who have not yet ventured into the second-hand market.Therefore,studying whether retailers operate the second-hand market and how to match return policies can provide decision-making basis for dual channel retailers.Meanwhile,pre-sale strategies are becoming increasingly common in the service industry.Retailers can obtain deposits in advance for turnover through pre-sale strategies,and can dynamically adjust their purchasing strategies based on the number of deposits,which is beneficial for enhancing the competitiveness of retailers.However,there is a risk of consumers refusing to pay the final payment and returning goods,which will be detrimental to the retailer’s profits.Therefore,starting from pre-sale strategies,linking pricing and return mode decisions with pre-sale strategies,analyzing the impact of pre-sale strategies,return modes,and optimal pricing on retailers’ optimal profits is also an important issue in industry development.To sum up,based on the summary and analysis of the relevant research results of door-to-door return,second-hand platform operation and pre-sale strategy decision in the retailer’s return decision,this paper focuses on three aspects:(1)We will compare the door-to-door return model with traditional return models and explore the impact of changes in factors such as cross benefits on the advantages and disadvantages of the two types of return models in a dual channel supply chain.Through research,it has been found that appropriate cross benefits and return service fees are the conditions for the implementation of two types of return models;Under the traditional return model,the cross benefits generated by offline returns can compensate for the losses caused by return services to dual channel retailers;Under the door-to-door return model,reasonable cross benefits remain an important factor in ensuring the total profit of dual channel retailers.Numerical analysis shows that consumers’ awareness of online channel products does not affect the comparison results of total profits under the two types of return models;From the perspective of total profit through dual channels,the robustness of traditional return models is better than door-to-door return models.(2)The resale services of second-hand platforms will inevitably affect consumers’ purchasing behavior and the return decisions of dual channel retailers.By characterizing factors such as cross returns(gains gained by retailers due to consumers’ additional purchase behavior when returning goods to the store)and resale prices(prices at which consumers handle unsuitable products in the second-hand market),a dual channel supply chain decision-making model considering second-hand platforms and return modes is constructed to explore the impact of changes in resale prices and cross returns on retailer pricing and profits under different second-hand platform operation decisions and return modes.Research has found that under the traditional return model,operating a second-hand platform will increase the cost for retailers,leading to a loss of their own profits;When operating a second-hand platform,if the suitability rate for consumers to buy products is too high,it will damage the retailer’s total profit,and the resale price of second-hand products will significantly increase the retailer’s total profit;When the product cost is low,whether retailers adopt a partial return model or a non return model,operating a second-hand platform will be more conducive to ensuring their own profits.(3)The decision of pricing and return mode is linked with the pre-sale strategy.The pre-sale strategy and optimal pricing of retailers under different return modes are considered,and the optimal solution is compared and analyzed to explore the impact of pre-sale strategy,return mode and optimal pricing on the optimal profit of retailers.The research shows that when the unit procurement cost of retailers is high,or when the shortage rate of products is high,they should appropriately increase the selling price to optimize their own profits.When the unit procurement cost of retailers is low or the value perception of consumers is high,pre-sale strategies should be chosen.Under the pre-sale strategy,excessive user value perception can actually harm the retailer’s profits,and the profit of the non return model is actually better than that of the allowed return model.In short,appropriate cross benefits and return service fees are the conditions for the implementation of the two types of return models;Only when the cross income is large and the return service fee is small,can the total profit of the door-to-door return model be better than that of the traditional return model.When operating a second-hand platform,if the suitability rate for consumers to buy products is too high,it will damage the retailer’s total profit,and the resale price of second-hand products will significantly increase the retailer’s total profit.In the non return mode,the optimal price under two sales strategies is positively correlated with the procurement cost per unit product,and the optimal pricing is also positively correlated with the out of stock rate and consumer value perception.In the return mode,the increase in procurement cost per unit product,shortage rate,and consumer value perception will all lead to varying degrees of increase in the optimal price under the two sales strategies.