Channel strategies when digital platforms emerge: A systematic literature review

Digital platforms that facilitate interactions between suppliers and consumers have achieved remarkable success in recent years. Suppliers on digital platforms sell products or services to consumers through either reselling, agency or, hybrid channels. Scholars in supply chain management pay increasing attention to how digital platforms choose profit-maximizing channels and how suppliers choose their channels under their respective channel leadership situations. In this paper, we conduct a systematic literature review of channel strategies when digital platforms emerge from 2010 to 2023. Both the digital platforms perspective and the suppliers` perspective are investigated. First, we review digital platforms` channel strategies according to different channel structures classified by monopoly or competing scenarios of platforms and suppliers. We identify the key factors influencing platforms channel strategies at the product-level, supplier-level, platform-level, consumer-level, and market-level which includes selling efficiency, cross-channel effects, competition intensity, and asymmetric information. Second, we review suppliers` channel strategies considering both direct and indirect channels, in which the platform channel serves as an increasingly important type of indirect channel. We identify the key influencing factors in different situations considering the spillover effects, asymmetric information, and others. Based on the review, we propose several directions for future research. This paper also contributes to the supply chain management literature by reviewing indirect sales channel strategies on digital platforms.