The Dual-Channel Retailer’s Channel Synergy Strategy Decision

Abstract

The main research question asked in this paper is whether and when a dual-channel retailer (retailer in short) should adopt the “buy online and pick up in store” (BOPS) strategy. To answer this question, we first derive the optimal price decision using the non-BOPS and BOPS strategies. Subsequently, we compare the performance of retailers under non-BOPS and BOPS scenarios. Our main findings are that under the monopoly scenario, retailers may not always benefit from the BOPS strategy. Retailers will benefit only if the offline operational costs are low and the degree of customer acceptance of the online channel is high. However, the BOPS strategy cannot improve dual-channel retailers’ market share. Furthermore, under a Stackelberg game scenario with e-retailers as leaders, when the value of a product is medium and the transaction costs of the offline channel are high, retailers can use the BOPS strategy to enhance their market share. If the degree of customer acceptance of the online channel is also high, retailers can further improve their profits by using the BOPS strategy. Overall, these findings not only provide decision support for retailers, but also enrich the theories on dual-channel retailing in operations management.

Keywords

• retailing
• dual channel
• synergy strategy
• Stackelberg game