Abstract:

It aims to examine the optimal offline channel strategy and operations model adoption in a supply chain consisting of a manufacturer and a platform. To this end， three scenarios， i.e.， no offline channel， the platform introducing offline channel and the manufacturer introducing offline channel are considered under reselling model and agency selling model， respectively. The results show that： （1） If the online product matching probabilityis highenough， both the platform and the manufacturer will establish a physical store when the operating cost of the physical store is low enough. If the online product matching probabilityisintermediate， neither of them has the motivation to establish a physical store. If the online product matching probabilityis low enough， it is profitable to establish a physical store only when the travel cost of consumers is low. When the travel cost is high， even if the operating cost of the physical store is zero， none of themwill establish an offline channel. （2）When there is no physical store or the physical store only acts as a showroom， the operations model adoption of the platform and manufacturer only depends on the commission rate. When consumers buy in the physical store， the operationsmodel adoption is not only affected by the platform’s commission rate and consumers’ travel cost， but also by who establishes the physical store. The research findings provide a scientific basis for decision-making on off-line channel management and operations model adoption of platform supply chains.

Key words: platform supply chain, offline channel, showrooming, platform operations model