Channel Choice via On-Line Platform
By Stephen Gilbert, Parshuram Hotkar
Production and Operations Management | April 2024
DOI
doi.org/10.1177/10591478241249478
Citation
Gilbert, Stephen., Hotkar, Parshuram. (2024). Channel Choice via On-Line Platform Production and Operations Management doi.org/10.1177/10591478241249478.
Copyright
Production and Operations Management, 2024
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Abstract
Several major on-line platforms operate two channels: an agency channel in which suppliers retain control over prices and quantities and pay a portion of sales revenue to the platform, and a reselling channel in which the platform purchases goods from the supplier and resells them to consumers. These two channels run in parallel and many suppliers interact with only one of them. Although it is quite easy for a supplier to sell through a platform's agency channel, they must typically be invited to participate in the reselling channel. We develop a model of a powerful platform that can offer a supplier a two-part contract to induce it to participate in its reselling channel instead of its agency channel. When the supplier sells through the platform's agency channel, we find that if the competition among the traditional resellers is at least moderate and the on-line platform is a close enough substitute for traditional resale channel, then the equilibrium quantities sold through the on-line and traditional channels both exceed the first best quantities. This would not occur if the supplier sold through either the on-line or the traditional channel in isolation. Nor does it occur if the supplier sells through the platform's reselling channel. As a consequence, we find that when competition among traditional resellers is at least moderate, and both the commission rate and the substitutability between the on-line platform and the traditional resale channel are sufficiently high, there is a Pareto improving reselling contract between the supplier
and the platform.

Parshuram Hotkar is an Assistant Professor of Operations Management at the Indian School of Business (ISB). His primary area of interest is studying strategic interactions in competing supply chains with applications in omnichannel retailing and the pharmaceutical industry. He studies drug shortages due to frequent supply disruptions in the injectable drug supply chain. He has also collaborated with an advertising company for his work on social media platforms.

Professor Hotkar has received research awards from several renowned organisations, including INFORMS and the Decision Sciences Institute (DSI).

His teaching interests include supply chain optimisation, supply chain modelling, strategic procurement, operations management, and social media analytics.

Prior to joining ISB, he earned his PhD and MS in Information, Risk, and Operations Management from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. He also holds an MS in Operations Management and dual degree (BTech and MTech) in Biotechnology from IIT Madras.

Parshuram Hotkar
Parshuram Hotkar