Pricing decisions of dual-channel fresh product supply chain considering fresh-keeping investment under cap-and-trade regulation

The expectations for product freshness are rising in tandem with the rise of living standards. By investing fresh-keeping technologies, the supplier can effectively attract customers. Based on cap-and-trade regulations, this paper explores a dual-channel fresh product supply chain (FPSC) considering fresh-keeping and carbon emission reduction (CER) technologies investments. The supplier sells product through two channels (traditional retail and direct online). This paper introduces freshness and the degree of carbon emission reduction (CER) into the market demand, analyzes the optimal pricing decisions of supply chain parties in four different cases, and discusses how several important factors affect the optimal pricing decisions. Through numerical cases and sensitivity analysis, our findings indicate that more investment in fresh-keeping technology can effectively enhance enterprise benefits. Additionally, we note that the retail price set by the retailer, the wholesale price and online direct selling price set by the supplier are all linear functions with the CER level.