Today, e-commerce has entered the mobile era in which consumers can shop through both mobile app (MA) and website (WS) channels. By strategically designing the linkage between the two channels based on the cross-channel influences, companies can better handle the demand uncertainty of seasonal products. In this paper, we consider a dual channel e-commerce supply chain with an e-tailer and a manufacturer selling a seasonal product. We analytically examine how the e-tailer can (i) adopt risk pooling by aggregating the demands from both the MA and WS channels and (ii) invest in forecast-enhancement technology (FET) to improve inventory management. We uncover that when the magnitude of cross-channel influences increases, the impacts on the optimal inventory decision vary greatly depending on four different “model cases”; interestingly, it does not affect the optimal FET decision. Considering the impacts of cross-channel influences on the e-tailer’s expected profit, we reveal that the optimal weakening or strengthening strategy, i.e., “creating barriers” or “enhancing linkage” between two channels, depends on the e-tailer’s channel operations models. Then, we find that the optimal weakening or strengthening strategy follows the same pattern as in the basic model when the dual channel e-commerce supply chain is coordinated under a Nash bargaining framework. Last but not least, we study the potential use of blockchain technology to improve the effectiveness of FET investment. We surprisingly find that using blockchain or not does not affect the optimal MA and WS design decisions on weakening or strengthening linkages.

如今，电子商务已进入移动时代，消费者可以通过移动应用程序（MA）和网站（WS）渠道进行购物。通过基于跨渠道影响来战略性地设计两个渠道之间的联动，企业可以更好地应对季节性产品的需求不确定性。在本文中，我们考虑一个双渠道电子商务供应链，其中包括电子零售商和销售季节性产品的制造商。我们分析研究了电子零售商如何 (i) 通过汇总 MA 和 WS 渠道的需求来采用风险分担，以及 (ii) 投资预测增强技术 (FET) 以改善库存管理。我们发现，当跨渠道影响程度增加时，对最优库存决策的影响因四种不同的“模型案例”而有很大差异；有趣的是，它并不影响最佳 FET 决策。考虑到跨渠道影响对电子零售商预期利润的影响，我们发现最优的弱化或强化策略，即两个渠道之间“制造壁垒”或“增强联动”，取决于电子零售商的渠道运营模式。然后，我们发现当双渠道电子商务供应链在纳什讨价还价框架下协调时，最优弱化或强化策略遵循与基本模型相同的模式。最后但并非最不重要的一点是，我们研究了区块链技术在提高 FET 投资有效性方面的潜在用途。我们惊讶地发现，是否使用区块链并不影响弱化或加强联系的最佳 MA 和 WS 设计决策。