Abstract
In this chapter, we study the impact of two major technological advances in demand fulfillment—the emergence of dual channels in retail (i.e., online and in-store) and the adoption of on-demand customization technology (such as additive manufacturing or 3D printing). Our analysis shows that such technology adoption can have differential impacts to the two channels. The technology leads to increased product variety offered online, as well as allows the firm to charge a price premium for online customers. Yet it also induces the firm to offer a smaller product variety and a reduced price in-store. Moreover, the online demand increases (decreases) if the customer online wait cost is low (high). The firm’s profitability with the new technology is driven by the production setup cost of the traditional production technology it replaces and also by how much customers care about the product’s custom fit.
Keywords
- On-demand customization
- Dual channels
- Product variety
- Pricing
- Supply chain management
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Chen, L., Cui, Y., Lee, H.L. (2020). On-Demand Customization and Channel Strategies. In: Ray, S., Yin, S. (eds) Channel Strategies and Marketing Mix in a Connected World. Springer Series in Supply Chain Management, vol 9. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31733-1_7
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