Abstract:

In recent years， with the rapid development of e-commerce technology and the popularity of online shopping among consumers， the fresh produce e-tailing market has developed rapidly， and more and more fresh suppliers cooperate with online sellers to sell fresh agricultural products online. Suppliers mainly cooperate with online sellers in agency mode or wholesale mode. The agency mode refers to the supplier selling products directly to consumers through the online channel and paying a certain commission to the online seller； and the wholesale model refers to the wholesale of products by suppliers to online sellers and then resold by online sellers to consumers. Under different cooperation modes， suppliers and online seller have different pricing power and different profit methods. At the same time， the development and innovation of e-commerce technology have provided convenient conditions for the implementation of the fresh produce advance selling strategy. In order to cope with the challenge of the short sales cycle of fresh produce， some suppliers or online seller begin to consider selling fresh produce before being launched to extend the sales cycle and expand market demand. However， under different cooperation modes， the advance selling strategy has different impacts on the supplier， the online seller and the overall performance of the supply chain， at the same time， the implementation of the advance selling strategy will affect the freshness-keeping effort and price decision， making the choice of cooperation mode of fresh produce e-tailing supply chain more complicated. Based on the above background， the selection of cooperation mode and advance selling decision of fresh produce e-tailing supply chain， as well as how to motivate suppliers and online seller to optimize strategy selection to achieve supply chain performance improvement are studied.The research content of this paper includes the following three parts. First， considering the interaction between cooperation mode and advance selling strategy， a dynamic game model between fresh produce supplier and online seller is constructed. Second， the advance selling strategy preference of fresh e-tailing supply chain under different cooperation modes is analyzed， and the optimal cooperation mode and advance selling strategy decision game equilibrium between the supplier and online seller are solued. Third， based on the equilibrium， incentive contracts are designed based on transfer payment to encourage the supplier to change the choice of cooperation mode or encourage the online seller to adopt advance selling strategies to achieve Pareto improvement of the overall performance of the supply chain.The results show that， first， the cooperation mode and advance selling strategy of fresh e-tailing supply chain depend on the proportion of consumers in the advance selling period， the degree of consumer loss aversion and the commission rate. Second， under the agency mode and wholesale mode， the implementation of advance selling strategy will promote the supplier to improve the level of freshness-keeping efforts， and increase the spot selling price. Third， the implementation of the advance selling strategy will affect the selection of cooperation mode by the supplier. Under certain conditions， suppliers may choose the agency mode even with higher commission rate. Fourth， in the wholesale mode， when the proportion of consumers in the advance selling period is high， or the proportion of consumers in the advance selling is low with high level of consumer loss aversion， the implementation of advance selling strategy is beneficial to the profit of the overall supply chain， but the supplier has no motivation to adopt the advance selling strategy. At this time， the contract designed based on transfer payment can encourage the supplier to adopt advance selling strategy or encourage the supplier to choose agency mode to achieve Pareto improvement of the overall supply chain.

Key words: e-tailing for fresh produce, advance selling strategy, cooperation mode, freshness-keeping effort