• Journal of Information Processing Systems
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.513-526
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• 2023

Supply chain coordination plays a critical role in improving the enterprise performance and the competitive advantage of fresh e-commerce. This study explores the coordination problem of a two-echelon fresh produce e-commerce supply chain comprising a fresh e-commerce enterprise and a fresh supplier in a novel framework. In this framework, the fresh e-commerce sells fresh produce and provides promotion effort; meanwhile, the fresh supplier deliveries fresh produce and provides freshness-keeping effort. Specifically, the optimal decisions under centralized and decentralized decision-making are compared, and it is found that centralized decision-making is more profitable. Based on this work, we created a cost-sharing and revenue-sharing combination contract. This study demonstrates that this contract effectively coordinates the supply chain and makes both parties achieve Pareto optimization when the parameters meet certain conditions. Finally, the feasibility and validity of the contract are presented through a numerical example.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.113-125
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of interaction between product category (fresh vs. indulgent product) and shopping options (shipping charge and delivery time) on customer satisfaction and purchase intent in an e-commerce context. When ordering groceries online, consumers begin to allocate a larger share of their grocery budget toward product categories that generally contain healthier items at the expense of product categories that generally contain more indulgent products. Moreover, customers are extremely sensitive to shipping options such as shipping charges and delivery time. Therefore, this research investigates the issue at a more segmented level to focus on the impact that one dimension of logistics service quality - product category, shipping charge, and delivery time have on customer satisfaction and purchase intent. Research design, data, and methodology: To test the theoretically derived priori hypotheses concerning product category, shipping charges, delivery time, satisfaction, and purchase intent, this research presented a scenario-based experiment. Eight treatment groups were assigned by the method of product category (fresh produce vs. indulgent product), shipping charge (free vs. paid), and delivery time (one-day vs. two to three days). A total of 240 subjects were divided into groups and exposed to one of the eight scenarios. Participant's purchase intention was the dependent variable, and ANOVA and L-matrix were used to analyze for main and interactive effects between factors. Conclusions: Results indicated that in tests 1 and 2, free shipping and fast delivery time increased consumer satisfaction as well as purchase intent, and fast delivery moderated the impact of free shipping on consumer satisfaction and purchase intent. Test 3 showed that the effect of free shipping on consumer satisfaction and purchase intent moderated by fast delivery for indulgent products. In contrast, fast delivery for fresh products moderated the effect of paid shipping on consumer satisfaction and purchase intent. Consistent with this proposed mechanism, the relative importance of fresh produce versus indulgent products highlights the effect of shipping options on consumer satisfaction and purchase intent when ordering the target product in an e-commerce context. We conclude with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.65-75
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• 2021

Purpose: During the pandemic, a large number of orders forced online retailers of fresh produce to quickly change their emergency logistics capabilities to meet the needs of ordinary consumers during the pandemic. Our research aims to help online retailers establish an emergency physical distribution framework for fresh produce during disasters to meet consumer needs. Research design and methodology: 160 effective responses were collected from the online response team in Wuhan, China, and exploratory factor analysis was used to determine the emergency logistics capability framework. Twelve experts were invited online to collect their scoring opinions and use the entropy method to determine the importance of emergency logistics capabilities. Results: Our results have identified a total of 17 emergency logistics factors for online retailers, and we found that Transportation route planning and reconstruction capabilities, Emergency plan planning ability, and Supply chain real-time information sharing capability are the most important in the overall framework. Conclusions: This research completely established the physical distribution framework of fresh agricultural products online retailer in emergency situations. It enriches academic resources in the field of emergency distribution and provides a scientific basis for corporate managers to improve their physical distribution capabilities in emergency situations.