The optimal e-commerce sales mode selection and information sharing strategy under demand uncertainty

Demand forecasting is important information for all enterprises. Accurate forecast information determines the success of supply chain operations. This paper studies the selection strategy of e-commerce sales mode and information sharing strategy in a dual-channel supply chain. The manufacturer and e-retailer enter a Stackelberg competition. The e-retailer independently decides to share or not share forecasting demand information to the manufacturer. The results show that only if the investment efficiency of the manufacturer's after-sales service is high, e-retailer is willing to share demand forecasting information. Information sharing does not always add value to the e-retailer, which may lead to the ‘precision trap’ of the e-retailer. Moreover, forecasting accuracy always has a positive impact on the e-retailer's profit. However, the manufacturer would benefit from more accurate forecasting demand in the case of sharing information. Otherwise, prediction accuracy is negatively correlated with the manufacturer's profit. Besides, the selection strategy of e-commerce sales mode depends on the level of the manufacturer's investment efficiency. Specifically, if the manufacturer invests in after-sales service more efficiently, platform sales mode is preferred. If not, they prefer wholesale sales mode. © 2021