Home Delivery Distance and Free Shipping Policy for Fresh Food Considering the Loss

摘要

The home delivery of fresh food in B2C e-commerce environment is studied. Considering the loss of fresh food in the distribution process, the paper modifies the initial model of home delivery distance, which is based on function value. And the optimal home delivery distance for fresh food in B2C e-commerce is presented. In view of the fixed charging mode of home delivery service, the consumer expectations function is built. And based on the maximization of the utility of the consumer surplus function, the free shipping threshold of home delivery for fresh food is solved. Finally, a calculating example is carried out. The results show that there is a nonlinear negative correlation between the loss degree and home delivery distance for fresh food. The internet retailers provide a fixed fee for the home delivery service based on service distance. A reasonable free shipping threshold can effectively stimulate consumers to buy more goods, thus improve the internet retailers' profit.