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

摘要： 考虑到旧耐用品常常由于电池严重衰退而影响其性能,一些企业开始提供电池换新服务。然而企业提供电池换新服务将会蚕食以旧换新需求量,并且需要付出一定成本,因此现实中企业面临着是否提供电池换新服务的挑战。为应对此挑战,本文分别考虑集中式供应链、分散式供应链以及协调供应链的最优电池换新策略。通过优化模型,研究发现:(1)在集中式和分散式供应链下,最优电池换新策略取决于电池换新价值提升率、电池换新服务固定成本以及新电池生产成本的大小;(2)在协调供应链下,最优电池换新策略取决于电池换新价值提升率、电池换新服务固定成本以及契约固定费的大小;(3)相比较集中式供应链,企业在分散式供应链中更倾向于不提供电池换新服务,但在协调供应链中可能会更倾向于提供电池换新服务;(4)新电池的线上评论上升会提升企业提供电池换新的意愿,但新产品的线上评论上升却会降低企业提供电池换新服务意愿。

关键词: 以旧换新, 电池换新, 定价, 协调, 线上评论