关键词: 以旧换新, 电池换新, 定价, 协调, 线上评论

Abstract: In recent years, trade-in services have prevailed in the durable goods market such as automobiles, household appliances, and mobile phones. In reality, used products like mobile phones often have poor performance due to serious battery deterioration, thus some firms are increasingly providing battery replacement services. Battery replacement service refers to the process in which consumers only replace the battery of a product while keeping the old product and turn the old battery over to the merchant for recycling. Some firms provide battery replacement services, for example, Huawei provides battery replacement services for its mobile phones and notebooks, and Xiaomi provides battery replacement service for its mobile phones. Thus, considering that the battery replacement service will cannibalize the old replacement service and need a certain fee, the firms that provide the old replacement service are faced with the challenge of whether to provide the battery replacement service.
To cope with this challenge, this paper considers the optimal battery replacement strategy under the centralized supply chain, decentralized supply chain and coordinated supply chain, and develops theoretical models. With consumer utility theory, game methods and optimization methods, this paper optimizes the models and presents optimal decisions and profits. By comparing optimal decisions and profits, we obtain some implications. Moreover, this paper considers the influence of online reviews in the extension.
Regarding the battery replacement strategy, this paper finds that in the centralized supply chain and decentralized supply chain environment, when the battery replacement value increase rate is low, firms should not provide battery replacement services. In a moderate situation, when the fixed cost of battery replacement service is low (high), the firm should (not) provide battery replacement service. When the battery replacement value increase rate is relatively high, firms will choose to provide battery replacement services only when both the production cost of new batteries and the fixed cost of battery replacement services are low; otherwise, firms will choose not to provide battery replacement services. Different from the centralized supply chain and the decentralized supply chain, in the coordinated supply chain, the retailer's optimal battery replacement strategy depends on the increase rate of battery replacement value, the fixed cost of battery replacement service and the size of the contract fixed fee. Compared with the centralized supply chain, enterprises in the decentralized supply chain are more inclined to not provide battery replacement services. If the contract fixed fee of CONB is larger (smaller) than that of COYB, the enterprise is more inclined to coordinate the supply chain. Battery replacement service is provided (not provided). As online reviews of new batteries increase, the willingness of firms to provide battery replacements will increase. In terms of optimal decision-making, this paper finds that if firms intend to provide battery replacement services, they should maintain the original new product prices and trade-in discounts. Compared with centralized supply chains and coordinated supply chains, retailers should lower their retail prices in decentralized supply chains, but sometimes it is necessary to increase their trade-in discount and the price of new batteries. As the durability factor of used products increases, firms should increase the trade-in discount and the price of new batteries. As the residual value of used products increases, firms should increase their prices. They have trade-in discounts but should lower the price of their new batteries. Firms should increase the price of their new batteries as the rate of increase in battery trade-in value increases.
This paper only considers the single-cycle battery replacement strategy, and future research can consider two-cycle and multi-cycle situations. In addition, this paper only considers the single-channel situation, so dual-channel, omni-channel, and multi-channel can be included in future research. Finally, firms in the market are often in a competitive environment, so the issue of battery replacement strategies for multi-agent competition will be the future research direction.

Key words: trade-in, battery replacement, pricing, coordination, online reviews