Private Label Introduction and Sales Format Selection with Regard to e-Commerce Platform Supply Chain

Largely motivated by the industrial practice in which a platform giant will encroach online retailing by introducing private label (PL) products, this paper aims to investigate the optimal introduction decision for a platform and identify the best sales format, between the reselling format and the agency format, for a manufacturer in an e-commerce platform supply chain. In response to these two sales formats, this paper characterizes and proposes three different PL product introduction strategies, including No Introduction, Partial Introduction, and Full Introduction. By developing a game-theoretic framework and applying the Karush–Kuhn–Tucker optimality, this paper examines the optimal PL product introduction decision and the best sales format. With analytical studies and numerical experiments, several significant implications are derived in this paper. For example, it is first found that the consumer preference for the platform and the quality of the PL products are two key factors influencing the platform’s PL product introduction, with associated effects differing notably. Secondly, improving the PL products’ quality does not necessarily lead to an increased profit for the platform. It will also not lead to a loss in profit for the manufacturer. Lastly, the best sales formats for the manufacturer are significantly influenced by the PL products’ introduction strategy chosen by the platform.