Marketing of Digital Products

My dissertation comprises of three essays that theoretically and empirically investigate the marketing of digital products, which are information products such as newspapers and books sold in both physical and electronic form. In the first essay, we study product form bundling, defined as marketing two or more forms of the same product as a package. We show experimentally that, regarding information products, the usage situations communicated to consumers moderate the effect of the availability of bundle discount on the purchase likelihood for the product form bundle. We also compare the effect of different pricing strategies for information products. When no bundle discount is offered, the likelihood of buying both forms of an information product, holding the sum of their prices constant, can be increased by pricing the electronic form lower than the print form rather then pricing both at the same level. In the second essay we compare two product strategies that can be used in marketing digital products. Under standard mixed bundling companies offer full content in print and electronic form and the bundle of the two, while under content unbundled mixed bundling companies offer full content in print form, unbundled content in electronic form, and the bundle of the two. Which strategy is more attractive for a company to pursue? We model the profits under these two strategies and outline conditions in which one or the other leads to higher profit. We apply our analytical framework to data from a field experiment implemented on the website of a book publisher. The third essay investigates the attractiveness of complete product lines of items such as books and newspapers. We employ a choice experiment in which a sample of consumers is presented with hypothetical product scenarios asked to make a choice. The data is used to develop a profit-maximizing configuration of products and prices. Similar approaches to the product line pricing problem have been employed for conventional products, but not when bundling of different forms of a product is an option, and not when the different products may be complements rather than substitutes

The determinants of conversion rates in SME e-commerce websites

© 2017 Web retailers invest significant resources to improve the proportion of website visitors that make a purchase, also known as the conversion rate. Improving this rate is particularly important to SMEs that have traditionally lagged behind larger firms as they have found it difficult to justify the significant investment involved in website development against the historical low returns associated with an online sales channel. Identifying methods that increase conversion rates reduces these perceived barriers and increases effective SME participation in the growing e-commerce sector. This paper uses 1184 observations from 6 SME websites to identify and analyse the factors, or combination of factors, that improve conversion rates. This is achieved through a process of exploratory regression analysis to select the most relevant determinants and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to offer more ‘fine-grained’ detail on the conditions where conversion rates improve. Our findings suggest that a key factor that improves the conversion rate is a strategy that focuses upon either quality or promotion and avoids mixing such attributes within the web site offer

The Effect of Shipping Fee Structures on Consumer Evaluations of Online Offers

We investigate how consumers respond to two shipping fee structures -a flat fee charge and a free shipping threshold. Building upon the reference point and fairness perceptions literature, we demonstrate that offer evaluations and choice vary systematically with the shipping fee structure employed. We demonstrate that the free shipping threshold serves as a reference point, and consumers evaluate the offer relative to it. When an alternative reference point is provided, the free shipping threshold does not play a role anymore. We also show that the free shipping threshold may act as a goal for consumers, affecting offer evaluations and choice

To Contribute or Not: A Goals-Based Perspective on the Effect of Industry Sales Trend and Solicitation Messages on Voluntary Contributions to a Generic Advertising Campaign

Generic advertising campaigns such as "Got Milk?" and "Pork: The Other White Meat" are intended to increase demand for the entire product category rather than demand for a specific brand. This research examines the influence of industry (or product category) sales trend and solicitation messages on voluntary contributions toward such campaigns. Based on the idea that the context in which decisions are made may induce goals, a theoretical framework is developed to suggest that a declining versus an increasing industry sales trend induces different goal orientations. Although contributing to a generic advertising campaign may be viewed as 1 means to achieve the induced goal, the means-goal association is likely to be stronger when the trend is declining rather than increasing. Further, the authors propose that a solicitation message that is congruent with the induced goal and the associated mean is likely to be most effective in increasing contributions relative to incongruent messages. Consistent with the framework, three studies demonstrate that voluntary contributions are higher when the industry sales trend is declining versus increasing, and the solicitation message that reinforces the association between the induced goal and the means to achieve the goal is most effective in increasing contributions

How suspicion mitigates the effect of influence tactics

This research examines the role of suspicion in moderating the effect of psychological factors on satisfaction with bargaining outcomes. A suspicious mindset is induced by activating persuasion knowledge or the extent to which bargainers have knowledge about a psychological factor and recognize its potential persuasive influence. The results of four studies suggest that while time taken by an opponent to respond (Studies 1A and 1B), opponent providing a reference price that frames the outcome as a gain (Study 2), and opponent expressing unhappiness with an outcome (Study 3) increase satisfaction with bargaining outcome when bargainers’ persuasion knowledge is not activated, these factors are rendered ineffective in increasing satisfaction when persuasion knowledge is activated. This research activates persuasion knowledge in three different ways (through priming, altering opponent’s description, and providing an opportunity for gaming) and demonstrates that it is sufficient to induce a suspicious mindset that allows the associated defense mechanisms and coping strategies to guard against influence tactics