Short- and long-run competition of retailer pricing strategies

Retailers' pricing strategies are one of the most important determinants of the retail dynamics and the competitive structure of the retail market. Retailers use both short-term and long-term pricing strategies to optimize their market share. This study addresses several critical questions: (1) To what extent do retailers react to competitive price specials? (2) Do retailers alternate price specials of competing brands? and, (3) Can one identify stores or brands, that are price leaders or do retailers/brands set prices independently? We use cointegration analysis to estimate a model which allows us to study both the short- and the long-run dynamics of competitive prices within a single framework

A study of bidding behavior in voluntary-pay philanthropic auctions

The authors investigate compliance behavior and revenue implications in winner-pay and voluntary-pay auctions in charity and noncharity settings. In the voluntary-pay format, the seller asks all bidders to pay their own high bid. The authors explore motives and boundary conditions for compliance behavior based on internal and external triggers of social norms. The voluntary-pay format generates higher revenue than the winner-pay format for charity auctions, despite imperfect compliance, but it generates lower revenues in noncharity settings. To characterize bidding strategy, the authors study time to bid, auction choice, and jump bidding and find evidence that bidders in voluntary-pay auctions more commonly use jump bidding and late entry. The findings have important implications for marketing managers, augmenting the growing stream of empirical auction studies and work on corporate social responsibility. Specifically, combining an auction with a charitable cause may result in increased revenues, but managers should ensure that they are accounting for differential compliance rates between auction formats. Even if low-compliance bidders can be identified and screened out, doing so is not advantageous, because noncompliant bidders bid up prices

The impact of online auction duration

Abstract. One view regarding auction duration suggests that longer auctions would result in more bidders and more bids, which in turn would result in higher prices. An opposing view is that shorter auctions might appeal to impatient bidders, or alternatively that shorter duration might lead to more competitive dynamics. To examine these competing notions, we conduct pairwise comparisons of simultaneous auctions identical in all but duration. The auctions are conducted on two different platforms—eBay and a local auction site. We find that in eBay auctions, longer duration increases the number of bidders and bids and consequently increases final prices by about 11%. In the local auction website with far fewer auctions and a more steady set of participants, the effect is reversed and shorter auctions generate higher prices by about 20%. Both sets of effects are robust and significant. We look at bidding activity on both sites to try to get at the root of that reversal. We find that in eBay auctions, the higher price in the longer duration auction is accompanied by a higher number of participating bidders and a higher number of bids placed in the auction. In the local site, we find that the auction duration does not significantly affect the number of participating bidders or the number of bids placed in an auction. However, the magnitude of jump bids is negatively and significantly correlated with duration. These jump bids are in turn shown to impact final prices

Bidder motives in cause-related auctions

We study cause-related auctions where a percentage of the dynamically determined purchase price of an item is donated to charity. Little is known about the effectiveness of such auctions. Bidders who value donations to charity have an incentive to bid more aggressively in such auctions. Regardless of whether they win or not, these bidders can significantly affect prices. The purpose of this paper is to study bidders' willingness to pay a premium in charity auctions and the drivers that affect the charity premium. We use a carefully designed field experiment involving simultaneous pairs of auctions that are identical in all respects but percentage of the proceeds donated to charity. This design gives us the ability to look at bidder choice among auctions based on charitable considerations. We use a mixture model approach to allow for different types of individual preferences. We find that individuals fall into three segments: two altruistic segments and a selfish segment. The altruistic segments, which drive up the charity premium, can be classified as warm glow bidders who derive pleasure from the act of giving and other-regarding bidders who give for selfless reasons. Results show that the difference in donation percentages is the major factor influencing the charitable premium. However, bidders differ considerably in their responses to donation percentages. While other-regarding bidders tend to seek auctions where a greater percentage of revenue is donated to charity, warm glow bidders only contribute when the charity premium is sufficiently low. Thus, managers should focus their marketing efforts on appealing to these different segments, depending on the percentage donated to charity. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Internet auctions

Internet auctions are common in nearly all consumer categories. Hence, it is not surprising that a great deal of research has emerged on the topic in recent years. New design and format considerations and a wealth of available data from various platforms provide new questions and promising research opportunities for marketing researchers. This monograph begins with the introduction of the basic settings, concepts, and processes that are the building blocks of auction research. It then focuses on the transition from pre-Internet auction research to more recent topics. Special attention is given to research opportunities as well as to experimental methods that can provide both laboratory and field data to answer important questions. The survey reviews recent empirical and theoretical works on Internet auctions with a focus on Internet auction design, formats, and features that are currently debated in the marketing literature. Some of these issues are extensions of general auction topics, but the findings can be quite different in Internet environments. We touch on new design features that are particularly relevant to Internet auctions such as feedback ratings, buy-it-now options, and different closing rules. We also look at strategic and behavioral models that are shaping marketing research on Internet auctions. Particular emphasis is given to behaviors that are relevant in offline environments but take on new meanings and forms in Internet auction environments