A Study of Cooperation Between Suppliers and E-Commerce Platforms Based on Biform Game

Abstract

This article considers e-commerce platforms with and without promotion, builds biform game models consisting of one and two supplier platforms, and calculates the profit distribution of the three parties using the Shapley value method. The optimal strategies of the three parties are discussed, including which platform the supplier will choose to cooperate with and which logistics service strategy to choose. In addition, how platforms make their commission rates to attract suppliers and which promotion strategy to choose are also studied. The results show that regardless of whether the platform promotes sales or not, in the case of charging consumers for the shipping fee when the standard shipping fee of unit product is low, the supplier will choose to cooperate with the platform without self-built logistics and use the third-party logistics to deliver products. When the standard shipping fee is high, the supplier will choose to cooperate with the platform with self-built logistics. But in the case of free shipping for consumers, the conclusion is just the opposite.