Optimal Pricing Strategies and Inventory Management for Fresh Food Products in Sustainable Cold Chain: Analytical Modeling with Korean Market Validation

Sunghee Lee and Jinsoo Park ()
Additional contact information
Sunghee Lee: Department of Business Administration, Hoseo University, 12 Hoseodae-gil, Dongnam-gu, Cheonan-si 31066, Chungcheongnam-do, Republic of Korea
Jinsoo Park: Department of Business Administration, Jeonju University, 303 Cheonjam-ro, Wansan-gu, Jeonju-si 55069, Jeonbuk-do, Republic of Korea

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 17, 1-24

Abstract: With rising consumer concerns regarding food safety, cold chain management—which preserves product freshness through low-temperature distribution—has emerged as a critical competitive factor for retailers. This study examines how retail firms can manage quality deterioration over time to maximize profits, with a focus on pricing strategies and discard rates. Through game-theoretic modeling and empirical data analysis of milk products, we find that while individual items exhibit no consistent pattern, bundled fresh food items demonstrate an inverted U-shaped relationship between discount rates and profits, indicating an optimal discount level. Furthermore, we identify a U-shaped relationship between order quantity and disposal rate, highlighting the importance of determining optimal inventory levels to minimize waste and maximize efficiency for a sustainable competitiveness.

Keywords: cold chain; pricing discount; discard rate; mixed methods; Korean market (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/17/7680/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/17/7680/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:17:p:7680-:d:1732853

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().