Online retail formats and product sales performance: The moderating role of product characteristics
研究了在线零售中代理销售与转售模式对产品销售绩效的影响，发现代理销售绩效低于转售，但高价、搜索型、非耐用品及低评论量的产品能减弱这种负面效应。
Suppliers and e-retailers are business-to-business partners who are both competitors and collaborators. With the platformization of online retailers, suppliers can either sell their products to the e-retailer (i.e., reselling) or directly sell to customers on the platform (i.e., agency selling). Yet, few empirical studies provide insights into which online retail format (agency or reselling) is associated with better product sales performance. Additionally, which product characteristics leverage the effectiveness of the retail format? Drawing on the Grossman–Hart–Moore (GHM) framework, the authors suggest that agency selling is associated with lower product sales performance than reselling. They test their hypotheses using data from a leading online platform. Results from a mixed-effect linear model show the negative association between agency selling and product sales performance is weaker for higher-priced, search, and nondurable products, and for products with lower review volume.