The interplay of platform's self-operated logistics development sequence and preannouncement strategy under consideration of unified pricing

Purpose The self-operated logistics mode with the autonomous-controllable characteristics promotes the improvement of logistics service quality. The platform would preannounce the self-operated logistics development plan, then officially launch the self-operated logistics service. The main purpose of this study is to explore the interaction of preannouncement strategy and self-operated logistics development sequence in the competitive market and analyze the pricing of different scenarios. Design/methodology/approach Based on the multi-strategy continuity of preannouncement and preannouncement content implementation, this paper considers the integration of preannouncement strategy and self-operated logistics construction sequence, then constructs the two-stage game models to explore the unified pricing and self-operated logistics quality in different scenarios, including four scenarios: {non-preannouncement, pioneer}– the platform does not preannounce and first develop self-operated logistics as a pioneer; {non-preannouncement, follower}– the platform does not preannounce and develop self-operated logistics later than competitors; {preannouncement, pioneer} – the platform agrees to preannounce and first develop self-operated logistics as pioneers and {preannouncement, follower} – the platform agrees to preannounce and develop self-operated logistics later than competitors. Findings There are several interesting finds: The quality differentiation of self-operated logistics and investment cost are key factors influencing the platform's ability to gain the sequential advantage. First, there exists a substitution effect between quality differentiation and later entry; the platform can obtain a competitive advantage under the scenario of {non-preannouncement, pioneer} or {preannouncement, follower}. Second, in the non-preannouncement condition, if the platform chooses to invest a limited cost, with the increase of quality difference, the platform is more profitable through developing self-operated logistics later than the competitor. Originality/value First, our work investigates the interplay of preannouncement and self-operated logistics construction sequence, contributing to the multidisciplinary study on information marketing tactics and market entry order strategy. Second, our work builds the two-stage game model for considering the continuity of multiple strategies, contributing to the research on the continuous game framework of multiple strategies. Third, our work investigates unified pricing and self-operated logistics quality, providing the suggestion for the pricing strategy and self-operated logistics construction.