电商供应链引入增强现实（AR）技术对产品质量与社会福利的影响

The Impact of Augmented Reality Technology Introduced into E-Commerce Supply Chain on Product Quality and Social Welfare

摘要:

导致消费者线上购物退货的两大原因是质量缺陷以及产品不匹配，提高产品质量和应用增强现实（AR）技术可以减少退货的发生。理论上AR技术的应用能够帮助消费者在线购物时更好匹配产品，但在实践中却可能导致产品质量下降。为此，建立斯塔克尔伯格博弈模型，研究不同销售模式下制造商与电商平台应用AR技术对产品质量的影响，并通过数值实验比较不同模式下AR技术的应用对产品质量、平台与制造商利润、消费者剩余以及社会福利的影响。结果表明：线上购物中应用AR技术在减少因不匹配产生的退货问题的同时也会产生产品质量下滑效应，同时转售模式下产品质量下滑比代理模式下更加严重，因此，在应用AR技术的同时，还需要充分关注控制产品质量。此外，在代理模式下，当产品退货率较低时, AR技术的应用可以有效提高消费者剩余和社会福利。

Abstract:

The two main reasons consumers return products during online shopping are quality defects and product mismatch. Enhancing product quality and incorporating augmented reality (AR) technology can help reduce return rates. Theoretically, AR technology should aid consumers in making better product matches during online shopping; however, in practice, it may lead to a decline in product quality. To address this, we establish a Stackelberg game model to investigate the impact of AR technology adoption by manufacturers and e-commerce platforms on product quality under different sales models. Numerical experiments are conducted to compare the effects of AR technology adoption on product quality, profits of platforms and manufacturers, consumer surplus, and social welfare across different models. The results indicate that, while AR technology in online shopping can mitigate mismatched product returns, it also leads to a decline in product quality. This quality reduction is more pronounced under the resale model than in the agency model, highlighting the importance of quality control when adopting AR technology. Furthermore, in the agency model, the application of AR technology can effectively enhance consumer surplus and social welfare when the product return rate is low.