Joint optimization decisions of pricing and effort level in live streaming e-commerce supply chain when considering returns

With the rapid development of live streaming e-commerce, the problem of high return rates has become increasingly prominent, which not only brings consumers a bad shopping experience, but also has a significant impact on the interests of brand retailers and anchors. Consider the return losses caused by returns and the industry reality of anchors receiving confirmed sales commissions, we develop a joint optimization decision model of pricing and effort level in live streaming e-commerce supply chain, and conducts sensitivity analysis and numerical simulation. We find that there is a unique optimal joint decision between brand retailers and anchors when considering returns, and the optimal product sales price and live streaming effort level decrease with the increase of consumers' price sensitivity coefficient and return rate, and increase with the increase of live streaming effort impact coefficient. In addition, if consumers are not sensitive enough to product prices, the supply chain can increase product sales through higher product sales price and higher levels of live streaming effort, if consumers are greatly influenced by the live streaming efforts of the anchor, even if the product price is appropriately increased, the anchor can significantly increase the sales in the live streaming room, and when the return rate increases, the supply chain does not need to significantly lower product price and live streaming effort level. Finally, several management insights were proposed to provide theoretical basis and practical guidance for the efficient collaborative operation of live streaming e-commerce supply chain.