Strategy on Role Management of E-commerce Platforms in commercial sector

Song Xie
Department of Management Science and Engineering, School of Economics and Management, Shanghai Maritime University, China.
Zhonghua Ma.
Department of Management Science and Engineering, School of Economics and Management, Shanghai Maritime University, China
Xiaofan Xu
Department of Management Science and Engineering, School of Economics and Management, Shanghai Maritime University, China.

DOI:https://doi.org/10.5912/jcb1373

Abstract:

In this study, we explore the role management of a successful e-commerce platform. At present, a successful electronic platform mainly has three roles: a funding provider, a platform operator or a retailer, and an own-supporting logistics system establisher. When a new capital-limited entrant supplier tries to enter the market, we find that the e-commerce platform will welcome him and give him financial help under certain conditions. The different contract signing with the supplier has a great impact on platform’s profit. When the e-commerce platform signs a wholesale price contract with the entrant supplier, it will more likely to set a lower interest rate to gain more profits. However, when the e-commerce platform signs a revenue-sharing contract with the entrant supplier, it may consider more factors, including interest rate, logistics service price, and revenue-sharing ratio. Combined with logistics factors, we also conclude that e-commerce platforms gain most profits when they sign the revenue-sharing contract and do not provide the entrant supplier with own-supporting logistics service. We provide some managerial insights into strategies for e-commerce platforms.