Inventory joint control method under stockout recommendation of high-end and low-end substitutable goods of front warehouse

Abstract

The invention provides an inventory joint control method under front warehouse high-low end substitutable goods stockout recommendation, and relates to the technical field of inventory management. According to the method, the order fulfillment time and the high-end and low-end product price difference corresponding to the purchase of the two products are considered, so that the e-commerce platform can more accurately predict the demand quantity, reasonably arrange the inventory and realize the balance of supply and demand. By optimizing the order quantity, the platform can reduce the inventory overstock risk and improve the fund utilization efficiency, thereby realizing cost control and profit maximization.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of inventory management, and in particular to an inventory joint control method under out-of-stock recommendations of high- and low-end substitutes in a forward warehouse. Background Art

[0002] According to relevant surveys, in the online retail industry, more than 70% of users (i.e., consumers) of e-commerce platforms said that they would be dissatisfied if they did not receive order confirmation or delivery notification within 24 hours after purchasing the goods. In addition, more than 80% of users said that they would prefer to buy products that can provide fast delivery and on-time delivery. These data show that users pay great attention to order processing speed and delivery time. Therefore, in today's highly competitive market environment, retailers need to pay attention to order processing efficiency and delivery speed to meet user needs and improve customer satisfaction, especially when user-preferred products are out of stock. How to effectively respond to user needs and balance inventory costs has become an urgent challenge for supply chain management. To this end, the forward warehouse model, as a strategy in supply chain management, has gradually been applied by major e-commerce companies to help retailers better respond to users' high attention to order processing speed and delivery time. By setting up a forward warehouse at a location closer to the user, it effectively shortens the order processing and delivery time, improves the order response speed, and meets the user's demand for fast delivery.

[0003] At the same time, it is easy to find that when users want to buy a low-end product and find it is out of stock, some users will choose to buy a high-end product with similar functions but higher prices as a substitute. This alternative purchase behavior not only reflects the user's demand for product functions, but also shows their acceptance of different price points. This phenomenon is particularly significant in e-commerce companies that use the forward warehouse model, because the forward warehouse model can provide a more convenient and fast replenishment mechanism, so that both high-end and low-end products can be quickly replenished and kept in sufficient stock. For users, when they find that the low-end products they need are out of stock, they can more easily find alternative high-end products on the same platform, thereby meeting their needs for product functions.

[0004] However, existing inventory research on product substitution all assumes that the substitution rate between substitutable products is quantitative and does not consider the user's choice behavior, resulting in the conclusion that the inventory strategy does not meet actual needs. Summary of the invention

[0005] 1. Technical issues to be solved

[0006] In view of the shortcomings of the prior art, the present invention provides a method for joint inventory control under the recommendation of high-end and low-end substitutes in the forward warehouse when they are out of stock, which solves the technical problem that the existing research on inventory under the recommendation of high-end and low-end substitutes in the forward warehouse when they are out of stock does not consider the user's selection behavior, resulting in the conclusion that the inventory strategy does not meet the actual needs.

[0007] (II) Technical solution

[0008] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention is implemented through the following technical solutions:

[0009] In a first aspect, the present invention provides a method for joint inventory control under out-of-stock recommendation of high-end and low-end substitute products in a forward warehouse, comprising:

[0010] S1. Obtain parameters of two substitutable products with different qualities, and construct a utility function based on the parameters; wherein the product parameters include product quality, product price, and the order fulfillment time corresponding to the purchase of the two products;

[0011] S2. Determine the situation of users' preference for low-end products and users' preference for high-end products on the e-commerce platform based on the utility function, and determine the situation of users choosing to ship the original preferred low-end products from the central warehouse and the situation of users choosing to accept the high-end products shipped from the forward warehouse as a substitute when the low-end products are out of stock based on the utility function, as well as the probability of accepting the substitution with high-end products;

[0012] S3. Determine the relationship between the inventory of the two products in the forward warehouse and the actual demand based on the parameters, the user's preference for low-end products, the user's preference for high-end products, the user's choice of the central warehouse to ship the originally preferred low-end products when the low-end products are out of stock, the user's choice of accepting the high-end products shipped by the forward warehouse as a substitute, and the probability of accepting the high-end products as a substitute, and calculate the profit function;

[0013] S4. Determine the expected profit function of the e-commerce platform based on the profit function;

[0014] S5. Solve the expected profit function of the e-commerce platform, obtain the optimal order quantity of the two high-end and low-end substitutable products, and control the inventory of the two high-end and low-end substitutable products.

[0015] In a second aspect, the present invention provides an inventory joint control system under the recommendation of high-end and low-end substitute products in a forward warehouse when the products are out of stock, comprising:

[0016] A utility function building module is used to obtain parameters of two substitutable products with different qualities and build a utility function based on the parameters; wherein the product parameters include product quality, product price, and order fulfillment time corresponding to the purchase of the two products;

[0017] The utility function analysis module is used to determine the situation of users' preference for low-end products and users' preference for high-end products on the e-commerce platform based on the utility function, and to determine the situation of users choosing to ship the original preferred low-end products from the central warehouse and the situation of users choosing to accept the high-end products shipped from the forward warehouse as a substitute when the low-end products are out of stock, and the probability of accepting the substitution with high-end products based on the utility function;

[0018] The module for determining the relationship between inventory and actual demand is used to determine the relationship between the inventory of two products in the forward warehouse and the actual demand based on parameters, the user's preference for low-end products, the user's preference for high-end products, and when the low-end product is out of stock, the user chooses to ship the originally preferred low-end product from the central warehouse, the user chooses to accept the high-end product shipped by the forward warehouse as a substitute, and the probability of accepting the high-end product as a substitute, and calculate the profit function;

[0019] An expected profit function building module is used to determine the expected profit function of the e-commerce platform based on the profit function;

[0020] The optimal order quantity solution module is used to solve the expected profit function of the e-commerce platform, obtain the optimal order quantity of two high-end and low-end substitutable products, and control the inventory of the two high-end and low-end substitutable products.

[0021] In a third aspect, the present invention provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program for joint inventory control under the recommendation of out-of-stock high and low-end substitutes in a forward warehouse, wherein the computer program enables a computer to execute the method for joint inventory control under the recommendation of out-of-stock high and low-end substitutes in a forward warehouse as described above.

[0022] In a fourth aspect, the present invention provides an electronic device, comprising:

[0023] One or more processors, a memory, and one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and are configured to be executed by the one or more processors, and the programs include methods for executing the inventory joint control method under the forward warehouse high- and low-end substitute out-of-stock recommendations as described above.

[0024] (III) Beneficial effects

[0025] The present invention provides a method for joint inventory control under the recommendation of high-end and low-end substitute products in a forward warehouse. Compared with the prior art, the method has the following beneficial effects:

[0026] The present invention takes into account the order fulfillment time corresponding to the purchase of two products and the price difference between high-end and low-end products. The e-commerce platform can more accurately predict demand, arrange inventory reasonably, and achieve supply and demand balance. By optimizing the order quantity, the platform can reduce the risk of inventory backlog and improve the efficiency of capital utilization, thereby achieving cost control and profit maximization. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative work.

[0028] Figure 1 It is a block diagram of the inventory joint control method under the out-of-stock recommendation of high-end and low-end substitute products in the forward warehouse according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0029] Figure 2a This is a schematic diagram of the user's selection when the low-end product 2 in the forward warehouse is not out of stock;

[0030] Figure 2b This is a schematic diagram of users' choices when the low-end product 2 in the forward warehouse is out of stock. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention are clearly and completely described. Obviously, the described embodiments are part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0032] The embodiments of the present application provide a method for joint inventory control under the recommendation of high-end and low-end substitute products when they are out of stock in the forward warehouse, thereby solving the technical problem that the inventory strategy does not meet the actual demand due to failure to consider the user's selection behavior under the recommendation of high-end and low-end substitute products when they are out of stock in the forward warehouse. The method can more accurately predict the demand, arrange the inventory reasonably, and achieve the balance between supply and demand.

[0033] The technical solution in the embodiment of the present application is to solve the above technical problems, and the overall idea is as follows:

[0034] The existing inventory research on forward warehouse high-end and low-end substitutes under out-of-stock recommendation mainly has the following two problems:

[0035] On the one hand, this out-of-stock recommendation behavior of e-commerce platforms is different from product recommendations based on user portraits or personal preferences. It is a recommendation of alternative products after customers have determined their preferred products and encounter out-of-stock situations. This recommendation behavior is not based on user preferences, but on user preferences for order response time. It is essentially a product substitution strategy driven by enterprises. In the product substitution literature, most studies focus on customer-driven substitution, while enterprise-driven substitution mainly considers inter-company transfer problems or multi-product inventory control problems with downward substitution in the context of cooperative production systems. However, both customer-driven substitution and enterprise-driven substitution assume that the substitution rate between substitutable products is quantitative, without considering user selection behavior.

[0036] On the other hand, out-of-stock recommendation behavior links the inventory of substitutes in the forward warehouse, allowing product demand to be aggregated. The inventory management of the two substitutes changes from decentralized management to centralized management, which ultimately affects the inventory decision of the product. Existing studies have shown that inventory aggregation can often reduce inventory levels and costs, such as concentrating the inventory of decentralized demand points for the same product. Some scholars have also found that under multi-product competition with out-of-stock penalty costs and partial product substitution, the inventory level of at least one product is higher than that of centralized management. It can be seen that centralized inventory is not always beneficial.

[0037] In order to solve the above problems, an embodiment of the present invention proposes a method for joint inventory control under the out-of-stock recommendation of high- and low-end substitutes in a forward warehouse. The method mainly considers the inventory aggregation problem under two high- and low-end substitute products, and considers the impact of the shortened response time brought by the forward warehouse on the inventory aggregation effect, thereby realizing flexible adjustment of inventory strategies.

[0038] In order to better understand the above technical solution, the above technical solution will be described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific implementation methods.

[0039] The embodiment of the present invention provides a method for joint inventory control under the situation of out-of-stock recommendation of high-end and low-end substitute products in a forward warehouse, such as Figure 1 As shown, the inventory joint control method includes the following steps:

[0040] S1. Obtain parameters of two substitutable products with different qualities, and construct a utility function based on the parameters; wherein the product parameters include product quality, product price, and the order fulfillment time corresponding to the purchase of the two products;

[0041] S2. Determine the situation of users' preference for low-end products and users' preference for high-end products on the e-commerce platform based on the utility function, and determine the situation of users choosing to ship the original preferred low-end products from the central warehouse and the situation of users choosing to accept the high-end products shipped from the forward warehouse as a substitute when the low-end products are out of stock based on the utility function, as well as the probability of accepting the substitution with high-end products;

[0042] S3. Determine the relationship between the inventory of the two products in the forward warehouse and the actual demand based on the parameters, the user's preference for low-end products, the user's preference for high-end products, the user's choice of the central warehouse to ship the originally preferred low-end products when the low-end products are out of stock, the user's choice of accepting the high-end products shipped by the forward warehouse as a substitute, and the probability of accepting the high-end products as a substitute, and calculate the profit function;

[0043] S4. Determine the expected profit function of the e-commerce platform based on the profit function;

[0044] S5. Solve the expected profit function of the e-commerce platform, obtain the optimal order quantity of the two high-end and low-end substitutable products, and control the inventory of the two high-end and low-end substitutable products.

[0045] The embodiment of the present invention takes into account the order fulfillment time corresponding to the purchase of two products and the price difference between high-end and low-end products. The e-commerce platform can more accurately predict demand, arrange inventory reasonably, and achieve supply and demand balance. By optimizing the order quantity, the platform can reduce the risk of inventory backlog and improve the efficiency of capital utilization, thereby achieving cost control and profit maximization.

[0046] In step S1, the parameters of two substitutable products with different qualities are obtained, and a utility function is constructed based on the parameters; wherein the product parameters include product quality, product price, and the corresponding order fulfillment time when purchasing the two products. Specifically, it includes:

[0047] When users buy products online, they mainly focus on three aspects: product quality, product price, and order fulfillment time when buying two products. To this end, the following utility function can be constructed:

[0048] u i =λs i -p i -δθt

[0049] Among them, the user's perception coefficient λ of quality follows a uniform distribution on [0,1], s i represents the quality of product i, p i represents the price of product i, t represents the necessary waiting time for the product to be delivered to the user, θ represents the reduction ratio of the necessary waiting time caused by the application of the forward warehouse model, and δ represents the user's sensitivity coefficient to the waiting time. Assuming that product 1 is a high-end product and product 2 is a low-end product, s1>s2 and p1>p2, and high-end products have higher profit margins than low-end products. If the purchase cost of product i is assumed to be c i , then p1-c1>p2-c2, i=1,2.

[0050] During the specific implementation process, product parameters also include inventory levels, etc.

[0051] In step S2, the situation of users' preference for low-end products and users' preference for high-end products on the e-commerce platform is determined according to the utility function, and when the low-end products are out of stock, the situation of users choosing to ship the original preferred low-end products from the central warehouse and the situation of users choosing to accept the high-end products shipped from the forward warehouse as a substitute are determined according to the utility function, as well as the probability of accepting the high-end products as a substitute. Specifically, it includes:

[0052] By setting u1 = u2, we can get the indifference point of equal utility as And by u i =0, it can be seen that the critical value of the quality perception coefficient when the user's utility for product i is 0 is And for product 1 and product 2, assume that λ1>λ2. So: a) when 0≤λ≤λ2, the user neither buys high-end product 1 nor low-end product 2; b) when λ2<λ≤λ0, the user prefers low-end product 2; c) when λ0<λ≤1, the user prefers high-end product 1.

[0053] However, when low-end product 2 is out of stock, users will face two choices: one is to have the central warehouse ship low-end product 2, but they have to endure a longer waiting time. At this time, the utility for low-end product 2 is u2′=λs2-p2-δt; the other is to accept the delivery of high-end product 1 by the forward warehouse to replace the demand for low-end product 2, so that users can get the product faster. At this time, the utility for high-end product 1 is u1=λs1-p1-δθt.

[0054] By setting u1 = u2′, we can get the critical value Let u2′=0, we can get Therefore, it can be seen that when the user prefers low-end product 2 but encounters out-of-stock situation, when λ4<λ≤λ3, the user chooses to ship the originally preferred low-end product 1 from the central warehouse; when λ3<λ≤λ0, the user chooses to accept the high-end product 1 shipped from the forward warehouse as a replacement. Among them, the probability of accepting the high-end product 1 as a replacement is

[0055] In step S3, the relationship between the inventory of the two products in the forward warehouse and the actual demand is determined based on the parameters, the user's preference for low-end products, the user's preference for high-end products, and when the low-end product is out of stock, the user chooses to ship the original preferred low-end product from the central warehouse, the user chooses to accept the high-end product shipped by the forward warehouse as a replacement, and the probability of accepting the high-end product as a replacement, and the profit function is calculated. Specifically, it includes:

[0056] Assume that the order quantities of product 1 and product 2 are Q1 and Q2 respectively, and the market potential D of the two products is a random variable, whose probability density function and distribution function are f(x) and F(x) respectively. Therefore, in terms of the specific market demand of the two products, when the current warehouse inventory can fully meet the market demand of low-end product 2, that is, D2≤Q2, the market demand of low-end product 2 is D2=(λ0-λ2)D, and the market demand of high-end product 1 is D1=(1-λ0)D. Specifically, Figure 2a part; and when the current warehouse inventory cannot fully meet the market demand for low-end product 2, that is, when D2>Q2, some of the unsatisfied users will transfer to buy high-end product 1. At this time, the market demand for low-end product 2 is still D2=(λ0-λ2)D, and the market demand for high-end product 1 includes two parts, one is the initial demand for high-end product 1, and the other is the replacement demand transferred from low-end product 2. The demand for product 1 is D1′=D1+α(D2-Q2)=(1-λ0)D+α[(λ0-λ2)D-Q2], where the substitution ratio α is as follows Figure 2b part.

[0057] Then, according to the relationship between the market demand and order quantity of the two products, it can be divided into the following four situations.

[0058] Scenario 1: When the current warehouse inventory can fully meet the market demand for low-end product 2, it can also fully meet the market demand for high-end product 1, that is, D1≤Q1, D2≤Q2, then the total demand for the two products meets The profit function is:

[0059] π1=p1D1+p2D2-c1Q1-c2Q2

[0060] Scenario 2: When the current warehouse inventory can fully meet the market demand for low-end product 2, but cannot fully meet the market demand for high-end product 1, that is, D1>Q1, D2≤Q2, the total demand for the two products meets The profit function is:

[0061] π2=p1Q1+p2D2-c1Q1-c2Q2

[0062] Scenario 3: When the current warehouse inventory cannot fully meet the market demand for low-end product 2, but can fully meet the total market demand after the initial demand for high-end product 1 and the replacement demand transferred from product 2, that is, D1′≤Q1,D2>Q2, the total demand for the two products meets The profit function is:

[0063] π3=p1D1′+p2Q2-c1Q1-c2Q2

[0064] Scenario 4: When the current warehouse inventory cannot fully meet the market demand for low-end product 2, nor can it fully meet the total market demand after adding the initial demand for high-end product 1 and the replacement demand transferred from product 2, that is, D1′>Q1, D2>Q2, the total demand for the two products meets The profit function is:

[0065] π4=p1Q1+p2Q2-c1Q1-c2Q2

[0066] Among them, c1 represents the unit ordering cost of product 1, and c2 represents the unit ordering cost of product 2.

[0067] In step S4, the expected profit function of the e-commerce platform is determined according to the profit function. Specifically, it includes:

[0068] According to the above description, the profit function of the e-commerce platform in the four cases is

[0069]

[0070] Therefore, the expected profit function is

[0071]

[0072] Now, let’s further discuss the expected profit function of the e-commerce platform:

[0073] (1) When When, naturally At this time, the expected profit function is:

[0074]

[0075] (2) When When, naturally When , the expected profit function is:

[0076]

[0077] In step S5, the expected profit function of the e-commerce platform is solved to obtain the optimal order quantity of the two high-end and low-end substitutable products, and the inventory of the two high-end and low-end substitutable products is controlled. Specifically, it includes:

[0078] To get the expected profit, the platform needs to decide the order quantity of two products, Q1 and Q2. Since Q1 and Q2 have different size relationships, after presenting the profit function, the e-commerce has different expected profit functions, that is, Therefore, we can first solve the optimal response function of Q1 with respect to Q2 Substitute the optimal value of Q2 into the piecewise expected profit function, and then substitute the optimal value of Q2 into the optimal response function In the example above, we can find the optimal value of Q1. That is, we first consider Q2 as a constant and Q1 as an independent variable, and then use the segmented expected profit function The optimal response function of Q1 with respect to Q2 is obtained by derivation, and then the optimal response function is substituted into the piecewise expected profit function. At this time, the expected profit function only contains one independent variable, Q2. The zero point is found by taking the first-order derivative to obtain the optimal value of Q2. Finally, the optimal value of Q2 is substituted into the optimal response function of Q1 with respect to Q2 to obtain the optimal value of Q1.

[0079]

[0080] Therefore, the optimal response function of Q1 with respect to Q2 can be obtained for

[0081]

[0082] Afterwards, Substituting in, we can get the expected profit function only for Q2 By Substituting into the piecewise expected profit function, the two function values ​​are equal, and the function is a continuous function. Then, we take the second-order derivative of the left and right functions. We know that the second-order derivative is but:

[0083] (i) When When Then there is

[0084]

[0085] (ii) When When Then there is

[0086]

[0087] Through the above process, the optimal order quantity of the two high-end and low-end substitutable products is solved, thereby controlling the inventory of the two high-end and low-end substitutable products and achieving inventory control.

[0088] An embodiment of the present invention provides an inventory joint control system for out-of-stock recommendations of high-end and low-end substitutes in a forward warehouse, including:

[0089] A utility function building module is used to obtain parameters of two substitutable products with different qualities and build a utility function based on the parameters; wherein the product parameters include product quality, product price, and order fulfillment time corresponding to the purchase of the two products;

[0090] The utility function analysis module is used to determine the situation of users' preference for low-end products and users' preference for high-end products on the e-commerce platform based on the utility function, and to determine the situation of users choosing to ship the original preferred low-end products from the central warehouse and the situation of users choosing to accept the high-end products shipped from the forward warehouse as a substitute when the low-end products are out of stock, and the probability of accepting the substitution with high-end products based on the utility function;

[0091] The module for determining the relationship between inventory and actual demand is used to determine the relationship between the inventory of two products in the forward warehouse and the actual demand based on parameters, the user's preference for low-end products, the user's preference for high-end products, and when the low-end product is out of stock, the user chooses to ship the originally preferred low-end product from the central warehouse, the user chooses to accept the high-end product shipped by the forward warehouse as a substitute, and the probability of accepting the high-end product as a substitute, and calculate the profit function;

[0092] An expected profit function building module is used to determine the expected profit function of the e-commerce platform based on the profit function;

[0093] The optimal order quantity solution module is used to solve the expected profit function of the e-commerce platform, obtain the optimal order quantity of two high-end and low-end substitutable products, and control the inventory of the two high-end and low-end substitutable products.

[0094] It can be understood that the inventory joint control system under the recommendation of high-end and low-end substitutes in the forward warehouse under the embodiment of the present invention corresponds to the inventory joint control method under the recommendation of high-end and low-end substitutes in the forward warehouse under the above-mentioned inventory joint control method, and the explanation, examples, beneficial effects and other parts of the relevant contents can refer to the corresponding contents in the inventory joint control method under the recommendation of high-end and low-end substitutes in the forward warehouse under the inventory joint control method, which will not be repeated here.

[0095] An embodiment of the present invention also provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores a computer program for joint inventory control under the recommendation of high-end and low-end substitutes in the forward warehouse when they are out of stock, wherein the computer program enables the computer to execute the method for joint inventory control under the recommendation of high-end and low-end substitutes in the forward warehouse when they are out of stock as described above.

[0096] An embodiment of the present invention also provides an electronic device, comprising: one or more processors; a memory; and one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and are configured to be executed by the one or more processors, and the programs include methods for executing the inventory joint control method under the out-of-stock recommendation of high- and low-end substitutes in the forward warehouse as described above.

[0097] In summary, compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0098] 1. The embodiment of the present invention takes into account the order fulfillment time corresponding to the purchase of two products and the price difference between high-end and low-end products. The e-commerce platform can more accurately predict demand, arrange inventory reasonably, and achieve supply and demand balance. By optimizing the order quantity, the platform can reduce the risk of inventory backlog and improve the efficiency of capital utilization, thereby achieving cost control and profit maximization.

[0099] 2. Through the above method, we can effectively understand users' preferences for product quality and response time. E-commerce platforms can optimize out-of-stock recommendation strategies, improve recommendation accuracy and purchase conversion rates. In view of the differences in preferences of different user groups, customized recommendation strategies will make the platform more attractive and improve user experience.

[0100] 3. The above method can optimize the order quantity and price strategy, and the e-commerce platform can provide product selection that better meets user needs and improve shopping experience satisfaction. This will help enhance users' trust and loyalty to the platform, promote the improvement of brand reputation, and then attract more users and increase transaction volume.

[0101] It should be noted that, in this article, relational terms such as first and second, etc. are only used to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Moreover, the terms "include", "comprise" or any other variants thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. In the absence of further restrictions, the elements defined by the sentence "comprise a ..." do not exclude the existence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device including the elements.

[0102] The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, rather than to limit the same. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments may still be modified, or some of the technical features may be replaced by equivalents. However, these modifications or replacements do not deviate the essence of the corresponding technical solutions from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for joint inventory control under the recommendation of high-end and low-end substitute products in a forward warehouse under the condition of shortage, characterized in that: include: S1. Obtain parameters of two substitutable products with different qualities, and construct a utility function based on the parameters; wherein the product parameters include product quality, product price, and the order fulfillment time corresponding to the purchase of the two products; S2. Determine the situation of users' preference for low-end products and users' preference for high-end products on the e-commerce platform based on the utility function, and determine the situation of users choosing to ship the original preferred low-end products from the central warehouse and the situation of users choosing to accept the high-end products shipped from the forward warehouse as a substitute when the low-end products are out of stock based on the utility function, as well as the probability of accepting the substitution with high-end products; S3. Determine the relationship between the inventory of the two products in the forward warehouse and the actual demand based on the parameters, the user's preference for low-end products, the user's preference for high-end products, the user's choice of the central warehouse to ship the originally preferred low-end products when the low-end products are out of stock, the user's choice of accepting the high-end products shipped by the forward warehouse as a substitute, and the probability of accepting the high-end products as a substitute, and calculate the profit function; S4. Determine the expected profit function of the e-commerce platform based on the profit function; S5. Solve the expected profit function of the e-commerce platform, obtain the optimal order quantity of the two high-end and low-end substitutable products, and control the inventory of the two high-end and low-end substitutable products.

2. The inventory joint control method under the out-of-stock recommendation of high-end and low-end substitute products in the forward warehouse according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The utility function includes: u i =λs i -p i -δθt Among them, λ represents the user's perception coefficient of quality, and λ obeys a uniform distribution on [0,1]; s i represents the quality of product i; p i represents the price of product i; t represents the necessary waiting time for the product to be delivered to the user; θ represents the reduction ratio of the necessary waiting time caused by the application of the forward warehouse model; δ represents the user's sensitivity coefficient to the waiting time; i = 1, 2, where product 1 represents a high-end product and product 2 represents a low-end product.

3. The inventory joint control method under the out-of-stock recommendation of high-end and low-end substitute products in the forward warehouse according to claim 2 is characterized in that: The determining, according to the utility function, whether the user prefers low-end products or high-end products includes: By setting u1 = u2, we can get the indifference point of equal utility as byu i =0, the critical value of the quality perception coefficient when the user's utility for product i is 0 is For product 1 and product 2, assume that λ1>λ2, so: a) when 0≤λ≤λ2, the user neither buys high-end product 1 nor low-end product 2; b) when λ2<λ≤λ0, the user prefers low-end product 2; c) when λ0<λ≤1, the user prefers high-end product 1.

4. The inventory joint control method under the out-of-stock recommendation of high-end and low-end substitute products in the forward warehouse according to claim 2 is characterized in that: The method of determining, based on the utility function, when low-end products are out of stock, whether the user chooses to ship the low-end products originally preferred by the central warehouse and the user chooses to accept the high-end products shipped by the forward warehouse as a substitute, and the probability of accepting the high-end products as a substitute, includes: When low-end product 2 is out of stock, users will face two choices: one is to have the central warehouse deliver low-end product 2, but they have to endure a longer waiting time. At this time, the utility for low-end product 2 is u2′=λs2-p2-δt; the other is to accept the delivery of high-end product 1 by the forward warehouse to replace the demand for low-end product 2, so that users can get the product faster. At this time, the utility for high-end product 1 is u1=λs1-p1-δθt; By setting u1 = u2′, we can get the critical value Let u2′=0, we can get It is concluded that when the user prefers low-end product 2 but encounters out-of-stock situation, when λ4<λ≤λ3, the user chooses to ship the originally preferred low-end product 1 from the central warehouse; when λ3<λ≤λ0, the user chooses to accept the high-end product 1 shipped from the forward warehouse as a substitute; among which, the probability of accepting the high-end product 1 as a substitute is 5. The inventory joint control method under the out-of-stock recommendation of high-end and low-end substitute products in the forward warehouse according to claim 2 is characterized in that: S3 includes: Scenario 1: When the current warehouse inventory can fully meet the market demand for low-end product 2, it can also fully meet the market demand for high-end product 1, that is, D1≤Q1, D2≤Q2, then the total demand for the two products meets The profit function is: π1=p1D1+p2D2-c1Q1-c2Q2 Scenario 2: When the current warehouse inventory can fully meet the market demand for low-end product 2, but cannot fully meet the market demand for high-end product 1, that is, D1>Q1, D2≤Q2, the total demand for the two products meets The profit function is: π2=p1Q1+p2D2-c1Q1-c2Q2 Scenario 3: When the current warehouse inventory cannot fully meet the market demand for low-end product 2, but can fully meet the total market demand after the initial demand for high-end product 1 and the replacement demand transferred from product 2, that is, D1′≤Q1,D2>Q2, the total demand for the two products meets The profit function is: π3=p1D1′+p2Q2-c1Q1-c2Q2 Scenario 4: When the current warehouse inventory cannot fully meet the market demand for low-end product 2, nor can it fully meet the total market demand after adding the initial demand for high-end product 1 and the replacement demand transferred from product 2, that is, D1′>Q1, D2>Q2, the total demand for the two products meets The profit function is: π4=p1Q1+p2Q2-c1Q1-c2Q2 Among them, Q1 is the order quantity of product 1, Q2 is the order quantity of product 2, α represents the probability of accepting substitution with high-end product 1; c1 represents the unit ordering cost of product 1, and c2 represents the unit ordering cost of product 2.

6. The inventory joint control method under the out-of-stock recommendation of high-end and low-end substitute products in the forward warehouse according to claim 5 is characterized in that: The expected profit function of the e-commerce platform includes: Among them, when When, naturally The expected profit function is: when When, naturally When , the expected profit function is:

7. The inventory joint control method under the out-of-stock recommendation of high-end and low-end substitute products in the forward warehouse according to claim 6 is characterized in that: The method of solving the expected profit function of the e-commerce platform, obtaining the optimal order quantity of two high-end and low-end substitutable products, and controlling the inventory of the two high-end and low-end substitutable products includes: First solve the optimal response function of Q1 with respect to Q2 Substitute the optimal value of Q2 into the expected profit function, and then substitute the optimal value of Q2 into the optimal response function , find the optimal value of Q1; solve the optimal order quantity of the two high-end and low-end substitutable products, so as to control the inventory of the two high-end and low-end substitutable products and realize inventory control.

8. A joint inventory control system for high-end and low-end substitute products in forward warehouses under out-of-stock recommendations, characterized in that: include: A utility function building module is used to obtain parameters of two substitutable products with different qualities and build a utility function based on the parameters; wherein the product parameters include product quality, product price, and order fulfillment time corresponding to the purchase of the two products; The utility function analysis module is used to determine the situation of users' preference for low-end products and users' preference for high-end products on the e-commerce platform based on the utility function, and to determine the situation of users choosing to ship the original preferred low-end products from the central warehouse and the situation of users choosing to accept the high-end products shipped from the forward warehouse as a substitute when the low-end products are out of stock, and the probability of accepting the substitution with high-end products based on the utility function; The module for determining the relationship between inventory and actual demand is used to determine the relationship between the inventory of two products in the forward warehouse and the actual demand based on parameters, the user's preference for low-end products, the user's preference for high-end products, and when the low-end product is out of stock, the user chooses to ship the originally preferred low-end product from the central warehouse, the user chooses to accept the high-end product shipped by the forward warehouse as a substitute, and the probability of accepting the high-end product as a substitute, and calculate the profit function; An expected profit function building module is used to determine the expected profit function of the e-commerce platform based on the profit function; The optimal order quantity solution module is used to solve the expected profit function of the e-commerce platform, obtain the optimal order quantity of two high-end and low-end substitutable products, and control the inventory of the two high-end and low-end substitutable products.

9. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: It stores a computer program for joint inventory control under the recommendation of high-end and low-end substitutes in the forward warehouse when they are out of stock, wherein the computer program enables the computer to execute the method for joint inventory control under the recommendation of high-end and low-end substitutes in the forward warehouse when they are out of stock as described in any one of claims 1 to 7.

10. An electronic device, characterized in that: include: One or more processors, a memory, and one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and are configured to be executed by the one or more processors, and the programs include methods for executing the inventory joint control method under the out-of-stock recommendation of high- and low-end substitutes in the forward warehouse as described in any one of claims 1 to 7.

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