Abstract: Considering the impact of the offline inventory availability on customer behavior, this paper, based on the rational expectation equilibrium theory and newsvendor model, develops store inventory decision models for the physical store in three modes: dual-channel, ship-from-store (SFS), and inventory information disclosure only. It explores the retailer’s optimal mode selection by comparing the equilibrium outcomes. The findings show that under the SFS or inventory information disclosure only mode, retailers should neither always activate the SFS channel nor consistently disclose the actual store inventory. Depending on customers’ waiting costs, travel costs, and the online price of the product, introducing the SFS channel or disclosing inventory information can lead to four effects: demand pooling, demand depooling, market expansion, and market contraction. When the online price is low, merely disclosing inventory information performs no worse than introducing the SFS channel. Conversely, when the online price is high, introducing the SFS channel is no worse than disclosing inventory information. Under certain conditions, retailers should adjust the optimal offline inventory level in response to changes in the online price.

Key words: ship-from-store (SFS), inventory information disclosure, rational expectation equilibrium, omnichannel retailing, inventory decision

摘要： 本文基于理性预期均衡理论与报童模型，研究门店库存满足率对顾客行为的影响，分别构建3种模式下的门店库存决策模型：不引入SFS（ship-from-store，门店发货）渠道、引入SFS渠道以及仅披露库存信息。通过均衡对比分析，探讨零售商最优模式选择。研究发现：在引入SFS渠道或仅披露库存信息模式下，零售商既不应始终启用SFS渠道，也不应完全公开门店的真实库存信息。根据顾客等待成本、旅行成本以及产品线上售价的变化，引入SFS渠道或仅披露库存信息可能引发需求池化、需求去池化、市场扩张与市场收缩4种效应产生。具体而言，当线上售价较低时，仅披露库存信息不劣于引入SFS渠道；当线上售价较高时，引入SFS渠道不劣于仅披露库存信息。在特定条件下，零售商应根据线上售价变化调整门店的最优库存水平。

关键词: 门店发货, 库存信息披露, 理性预期均衡, 全渠道零售, 库存决策