Purpose The pursuit of sustainable development and the rapid progress of digital technologies have made artificial intelligence (AI) marketing an important business trend to promote products. Although applying AI marketing can significantly reduce operational costs, it may impact consumers’ perception of the value of green products. Its influence on e-commerce supply chain (eSC) operation decisions warrants further investigation. Design/methodology/approach Considering the influences of sales models, this paper constructs decision-making models for scenarios with and without AI marketing under the resale model and agency model. Applying game theory, it analyzes optimal decisions across four cases, thereby investigating AI marketing’s impacts on optimal decisions. Furthermore, numerical simulation methods are employed to explore sales model selection within eSC when AI marketing is applied. Findings The findings indicate that when AI marketing significantly enhances consumers' perceived value of green products, it becomes advantageous to promote green products. However, when AI marketing exerts a weak effect on consumers, AI marketing can only enhance the operational efficiency of eSC if the scale effect exceeds a critical threshold. When cost scale effects in AI marketing experience stochastic disturbances, the volatility differences in sales models outweigh those caused by power structure-based distribution disparities. In the eSC dominated by platform, manufacturer or hybrid sales models, the manufacturer consistently prefers the agency model, while the platform favors the resale model. However, when considering consumers’ resistance to excessive marketing, both manufacturers and platforms tend to opt for the agency model. Originality/value This paper investigates the equilibrium between sales models and AI marketing strategies for green products in eSC, providing theoretical insights and managerial implications for the platform utilizing AI marketing to promote green products under different sales models.
Cui et al. (Tue,) studied this question.