In recent years, blockchain technology has been increasingly adopted in OTC medicine supply chains, enabling customers to track the entire process from raw material purchasing to finished medicine distribution. This improves the brand image and hence expands the market. With the use of blockchain, information transparency can be achieved because data are stored immutably and safely in a distributed database that is accessible by all supply chain members. However, will the incentives for supply chain members to participate in blockchain for larger-scale demand come at the cost of information disclosure? In this paper, to investigate the supply chain members’ incentive alignment opportunities towards the adoption of blockchain technology, we consider a two-stage supply chain comprising two medicine manufacturers and a common retailer that has more accurate demand information than the manufacturers have. We find that, interestingly, the retailer has incentives to participate in blockchain when the manufacturers’ competition is mild and the demand variance is low. We further investigate the impact of blockchain on total surplus and customer surplus and find that the adoption of blockchain always benefits customers and society; therefore, blockchain can be particularly useful for social goods such as OTC medicine.

近年来，区块链技术越来越多地应用于OTC药品供应链，让客户可以追踪从原材料采购到成品药分销的全过程。这提高了品牌形象，从而扩大了市场。通过使用区块链，可以实现信息透明，因为数据以不变且安全的方式存储在所有供应链成员均可访问的分布式数据库中。然而，激励供应链成员参与区块链以获得更大规模的需求是否会以信息披露为代价？在本文中，为了调查供应链成员对采用区块链技术的激励调整机会，我们考虑一个由两个药品制造商和一个公共零售商组成的两阶段供应链，该零售商拥有比制造商更准确的需求信息。我们发现，有趣的是，当制造商竞争温和且需求差异低时，零售商有参与区块链的动机。我们进一步调查了区块链对总盈余和客户盈余的影响，发现采用区块链总是有利于客户和社会；因此，区块链对于非处方药等社会商品特别有用。我们进一步调查了区块链对总盈余和客户盈余的影响，发现采用区块链总是有利于客户和社会；因此，区块链对于非处方药等社会商品特别有用。我们进一步调查了区块链对总盈余和客户盈余的影响，发现采用区块链总是有利于客户和社会；因此，区块链对于非处方药等社会商品特别有用。