Abstract:
In the context of e-commerce supply chain, taking the no-credit case as the benchmark model, characterizing consumer payment preferences through a payment method selection model, and constructing two credit service decision models without/with payment preference. The KKT condition and backward induction are used to solve all the optimal decision results in each case. The impact of consumers’ payment preference behavior on the introduction of credit services and rate strategies of e-commerce platform is explored through comparative analysis. Furthermore, based on the consideration of payment preferences, the study innovatively explores the differentiated default rates and the "cash + credit" combination payment scenarios. The results show that: (1) In the credit case without payment preference, the e-commerce platforms introduce credit services when the trouble cost is low. When the default rate is high or both the default rate and the trouble cost are low, an interest collection strategy is adopted; otherwise, a subsidy strategy is adopted. (2) In the credit case with payment preference, consumers with sufficient budget will use the credit services introduced by e-commerce platform when the cash payment pain coefficient is large and the trouble cost is low, even if the e-commerce platform only adopts an interest collection strategy at this time. (3) Under the condition that is more conducive to consumers using credit payment, the higher the total demand under the payment preference case, the greater the possibility of achieving a win-win situation for both parties in the e-commerce supply chain. (4) The difference in default rates does not change the platform's credit introduction and rate decision-making results, but in the case of combined payment, as the proportion of cash payments gradually decreases, the strategy transitions from interest collection to subsidy.