Self-built or retailer-based? Online direct-to-consumer channel introduction strategies for the fresh producer under retailer competition and disruption risk

The sharing of logistics resources among competing retailers provides a new avenue for fresh producers to introduce online direct-to-consumer (OD) channels. However, differences in operational cost and stability create a strategic trade-off between two approaches. Producers may either build the OD channels by themselves, accepting exposure to disruption risk, or rely on retailers, which ensures consistent operational stability. This study develops game-theoretic models of a fresh supply chain comprising one producer and two competing retailers across three scenarios: no OD channel, a self-built OD channel, and a retailer-based OD channel. The results show that, once an OD channel is introduced, higher operational costs lead the producer to reduce direct-sales quantities and lower wholesale prices to stimulate retailer orders. In the self-built OD channel model, the producer must adopt a “conservative,” “aggressive,” or “balanced” operational strategy, depending on the delivery cost, to mitigate profit losses from rising disruption risk. The retailer-based OD channel model becomes the producer's equilibrium strategy only when the logistics service fee falls below a threshold. This threshold increases when the delivery cost is low and exhibits a U-shaped pattern when it is high, as disruption risk rises. Additionally, the retailer-based OD channel model expands the range of equilibrium strategies as disruption risk increases and weakens the moderating effect of wholesale prices on retailers' order quantities. This leads to an asymmetric competitive landscape in which the producer is constrained, the logistics-sharing retailer benefits, and the non-sharing retailer is disadvantaged.