We study competition and coordination in a supply chain in which a single supplier both operates a direct channel and sells its product through multiple differentiated retailers competing in quantities. We study analytically the supply chain with symmetric retailers and find that the supplier generally prefers to have as many retailers as possible in the market, even if the retailers’ equilibri...

We consider the capacity allocation in a decentralized distribution system with a continuum of retailers, a number of distributors, and a supplier. Retailers privately observe their local demands, and distributors are equipped with information technology that facilitates finer prediction of retailers’ demands. The supplier builds capacity, but observes neither local demands nor the precision of...

Drawing on the past literature on four retail service areas: content management, customer management, multi-channel management, and visitor traffic management, this research offers an empirical analysis of the relationships between these four service areas and the online sales performance of Web retailers. Using data from an independent source on the profiles as well as operational and sales pe...

This paper investigates the emergence of retail clusters on supply chains comprised of suppliers, retailers, and consumers. An agent-based model is employed to study retail location choice in a market of homogeneous goods and a market of complementary goods. On a circle comprised of discrete locales, retailers play a non-cooperative game by choosing locales to maximize profits which are impacte...

With the advent of electronic commerce, it was expected that electronic retailers would replace conventional retailers. However, in industries such as grocery industry, electronic commerce itself is struggling and many e-tailers are dying out. Meanwhile, conventional retailers such as off-line travel agencies still seem to stay in business in the industries where dot-com companies are successfu...

BACKGROUND Tobacco retailers are potential public health partners for tobacco harm reduction (THR). THR is the substitution of highly reduced-risk nicotine products, such as smokeless tobacco (ST) or pharmaceutical nicotine, for cigarettes. The introduction of a Swedish-style ST product, du Maurier snus (dMS) (Imperial Tobacco Canada Limited), which was marketed as a THR product, provided a uni...

This paper examines the emergence of retail clusters on a supply chain network comprised of suppliers, retailers, and consumers. An agent-based model is proposed to investigate retail location distribution in a market of two complementary goods. The methodology controls for supplier locales and unit sales prices of retailers and suppliers; a consumer’s willingness to patronize a retailer depend...

This study investigates the differential impact of machine and person interactivity in both Web and mobile e-commerce channels on e-retailers’ operational and financial performance. Based on the data on 463 large e-retailers in U.S. and Canada, interesting findings that Web machine interactivity and mobile person interactivity have significantly positive impact on e-retailers’ operational perfo...

In this paper, we consider a two-retailer and one-supplier supply chain in which retailers make an extra effort to satisfy demand from customers who experience stockouts — retailers offer to direct-ship out-of-stock items on an expedited basis at no extra cost to customers. This practice is referred to as the fast-ship option. By supporting the fast-ship option, retailers and suppliers can redu...

April 2012 Abstract A manufacturer will often limit competition among downstream partners by authorizing only a select group of retailers to carry its product. However, it is not uncommon for authorized retailers to create an additional competitor by diverting units to an unauthorized seller. Prior research proposes that this diversion will not be optimal unless the diverted units are sold in n...