Research on Consumer Risk Perception and Trust Transmission between Channels

Abstract

Based on the theoretical foundation of empirical research on online consumer trust, this paper establishes a mathematical model of trust transmission between channels. Consider that a manufacturer sells products offline through an independent retailer, while the manufacturer expands offline products to direct online channels, and establishes trust transmission between offline and online channels to achieve channel synergy. In channel pricing, the full price theory of the channel is used to establish a model to study the issue of trust transmission between channels. Based on the different perceived risks of online and offline consumers, the issue of trust transmission and pricing between channels is studied. Taking the online consumer trust of channel expansion as the object, constructing the consumer utility function under the influence of perceived risk and the degree of online trust, and establishing the Stackelberg game model. The relationship between channel pricing and online trust level and the main determinants of trust transmission between channels are discussed. The research results show that the increase in online trust leads to a decrease in offline pricing, a decrease in offline demand, and an increase in online demand, and the profits of manufacturers increase while the profits of retailers decrease. Also, manufacturers' efforts to transmit trust in online channels decrease with the increase in offline product performance fluctuations, decrease with the increase in trust transmission cost coefficient, and increase with the increase in offline and online cost gaps.