Truthful multi-unit multi-attribute double auctions for perishable supply chain trading

•Multi-attribute double auctions are proposed for perishable supply chain trading.•Proposed auctions are truthful, budget-balanced and computationally efficient.•Computational study shows that proposed auctions reach high allocation efficiency.

This paper aims to propose multi-attribute double auctions for perishable supply chain trading (PSCT). We first construct a multi-unit/single-unit multi-attribute double auction (MS-MDA) for PSCT where suppliers can submit bids on a single unit of one item (i.e., single output restriction). We then relax the single output restriction and propose a multi-unit multi-attribute double auction (M-MDA) for PSCT in which each supplier offers multiple units of one item. Both the MS-MDA and M-MDA mechanisms are incentive compatible, individually rational, budget balanced and computationally efficient. The computational study shows that all proposed mechanisms are of high allocation efficiency and practically implementable.