讲座主题：The Effect of Multi-Channel and Omni-Channel Retailing on Physical Stores (joint work with Fei Gao and Vishal Agrawal)

　　主讲人：Shiliang Cui

　　讲座时间：1月8日(周二)上午10:00

　　讲座地点：经济与管理学院A208

　　主办单位：武汉大学经济与管理学院管理科学与工程系

　　主持人：戴宾

　　讲座摘要：Most retailers today sell products through an online channel in addition to traditional physical stores. Customers may find online shopping attractive because it helps them avoid traveling to a store, but they have to incur an online hassle cost due to the inconvenience from having to wait, delivery costs, etc. However, purchasing the product online without being able to inspect it may lead to more returns for the retailer. In contrast, visiting a physical store allows customers to inspect the product before purchasing it, but they also have to incur a travel cost. Given the complex trade-offs associated with customers' purchasing decisions, a natural question is how the online channel influences a retailer's decisions regarding the physical stores. In this paper, we study how a multi-channel or omni-channel retailer should decide the number and size of physical stores. We show that contrary to expectation, as online shopping becomes more convenient, it can be wise for a retailer to open more physical stores that are smaller in size. We also find that a higher product return rate for online purchases can incentivize the retailer to open fewer physical stores that are larger in size. We also study the effect of three popular omni-channel strategies and show that the retailer should have more stores with showrooms (where physical stores only display products for customers to inspect before purchasing online) but fewer stores with either return flexibility (where customers can return their online purchases to a physical store) or in-store pick up (where customers pick up online purchases in a physical store).

　　主讲人简介：Shiliang Cui is an assistant professor of Operations and Information Management at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business in the U.S. His research has been published at top Operations Management journals including MS, OR, MSOM and POM.