{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T00:40:18Z","timestamp":1760143218494,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,26]],"date-time":"2024-01-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1706227200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["71831001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["71831001"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JTAER"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Online retailers offer free shipping services, such as threshold free shipping (TFS) and membership free shipping (MFS), to promote sales and provide a better shopping experience to consumers in online retailing. Although MFS attracts more member-consumers, it encourages consumers to place more small orders than TFS, which significantly increases the operational costs of the online retailer. To address this issue, we propose two price discount policies under the MFS service, namely the limited-time discount and the threshold discount. Then, we build analytical models under these two policies to explore the impacts of offering price discounts on the retailer\u2019s profit and consumers\u2019 welfare. We find that no matter which discount policy is adopted, consumers are more likely to consolidate several small orders from different time periods into a big one to obtain the discount. The economies of scale generated by consumers consolidating their orders under these discount policies can help reduce online retailers\u2019 operational costs. Therefore, regardless of any discount policy offered by the online retailer under the MFS service, consumers will place more big orders and more member-consumers are attracted, i.e., the online retailer can have its cake and eat it too. Our research findings provide decision-making insights for practitioners who offer free shipping services and price discounts to consumers in online retailing.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jtaer19010012","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,31]],"date-time":"2024-01-31T10:44:24Z","timestamp":1706697864000},"page":"209-231","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Have Your Cake and Eat It? Price Discount Programs under the Membership Free Shipping Policy in Online Retailing"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Zhipeng","family":"Tang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China"}]},{"given":"Guowei","family":"Hua","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China"},{"name":"National Academy of Economic Security, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5127-6419","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tai Chiu Edwin","family":"Cheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Logistics and Maritime Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6650-5840","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xiaowei","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Economics and Management, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8902-3185","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jingxin","family":"Dong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Business School, Newcastle University, Northern Stage, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 7RU, UK"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1177","DOI":"10.3390\/jtaer18030060","article-title":"Pricing game models of hybrid channel supply chain: A strategic consumer behavior perspective","volume":"18","author":"Zhang","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. 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