PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
The rise of digital platforms intensifies the price competition among agents. Agents often use low price strategies to attract consumers. However, the low-price strategy is often filled with false information and consumers perceive the non-truthfulness of the price information. Then, consumers\' trust in agents gradually decreases, which inhibits the growth of online shopping. Blockchain is seen as a solution to the trust crisis between agents and consumers. Our research is based on two competing agents selling the same type of goods on the same platform. We discuss agents\' blockchain technology application strategies in three scenarios, which are defined by whether agents choose to apply blockchain technology to improve consumer trust. The results show that the application of blockchain technology is beneficial to agents only when consumer trust is low. Furthermore, the YN strategy is regarded as a possible equilibrium strategy, which depends on the blockchain application cost and consumer trust. Some extended cases are discussed for post-blockchain consumer welfare, cost-sharing contracts, dishonesty penalties, and variable blockchain costs, and the results show that the analysis in this manuscript is robust. Our findings have important practical significance for promoting the application of blockchain technology and alleviating the problem of price information asymmetry in platform shopping.
摘要：
数字平台的兴起加剧了代理商之间的价格竞争。代理商经常采用低价策略来吸引消费者。然而,低价策略往往充斥着虚假信息，消费者认为价格信息不真实。然后，消费者对代理商的信任度逐渐下降，这抑制了网上购物的增长。区块链被视为解决代理商和消费者之间信任危机的解决方案。我们的研究基于两个竞争代理商在同一平台上销售相同类型的商品。我们在三种情况下讨论代理区块链技术应用策略，这是由代理商是否选择应用区块链技术来提高消费者信任来定义的。结果表明,只有在消费者信任度较低时,区块链技术的应用才有利于代理人。此外，YN策略被认为是一种可能的均衡策略，这取决于区块链应用成本和消费者信任。讨论了一些扩展的案例，用于后区块链消费者福利，成本分摊合同，不诚实的惩罚,和可变的区块链成本，结果表明，这篇手稿中的分析是稳健的。研究结果对于促进区块链技术的应用,缓解平台购物中的价格信息不对称问题具有重要的现实意义。
