Introducing P2P service to a B2C sharing platform: A hybrid sharing mode

Abstract

With the rapid development of global technology, many firms have entered the product-sharing market, where business-to-consumer (B2C), peer-to-peer (P2P), and hybrid rental services are the three most common business models. The difference between these models lies in the product provider. The product provider in B2C mode is enterprises, while in P2P mode, individuals provide the products, and both enterprises and individuals provide the products in hybrid mode. We employ a game model to analyze the influence of a B2C platform introducing P2P sharing service by comparing the profit of the platform and the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) under each of the three models. Our findings indicate that introducing P2P service always benefits the B2C platform but sometimes harms the OEM. Our findings also indicate that as the quality of the platform’s products improves, the profit improvement brought to the B2C platform by introducing P2P sharing decreases. We find that the impact of introducing P2P service also varies with consumer behaviors. For example, with increasing consumer usage level, the B2C platform’s profit improvement brought by introducing P2P sharing increases. Furthermore, we determine the optimal pricing strategies of the OEM and sharing platform in B2C mode and in hybrid mode.