A Delivery Time-based Competition Strategy for Community O2O e-tailer: A Study

Abstract

Abstract The community O2O e-tailer can offer the trade of life services within a five-kilometer radius of the community by building online and offline interactive e-tailer platforms between residents and businesses. However, the development of community O2O e-tailer has not been going as planned, failing many expectations. Hence, this paper investigates the two main influencers, namely price and delivery time, by taking the new e-tailers entering the online retail market as the research object. Through a Stackelberg model of community O2O e-tailer and B2C retailer, the competition strategies for the community O2O e-tailers are analyzed. The results revealed that the community O2O e-tailer could not gain any advantage under the homogenized competition. For the sustainable development of e-tailers, a thorough analysis of the community needs, and hence a differentiated competition strategy is required. The post-pandemic period offers a seamless opportunity to do that, which will allow the O2O e-tailer to transform and develop.