IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ejores/v307y2023i1p212-232.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Nonlinear pricing for yield management and countering strategic consumer behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Khouja, Moutaz
  • Li, Yuefeng
  • Zhou, Jing

Abstract

Many models assume that faced with excess inventory, retailers offer price discounts to increase sales. This discount is assumed to be a certain dollar amount or a certain percent of the regular price. However, many retailers use nonlinear pricing, e.g., “Buy one, get one for 50% off,” which we refer to as BOGO. We analyze BOGO within the newsvendor model and identify the reasons for its popularity. We describe the type of products for which BOGO is suitable, identify the optimal BOGO discount, and its effect on the retailer’s profit. We compare BOGO to straight price reduction and analyze the newsvendor’s optimal choice between them. We also examine the two promotions in the presence of strategic consumers. We find that for reasonable values of consumer marginal utility and a given order quantity, BOGO reduces strategic consumers’ chances of obtaining a unit at a discount and their incentive to wait. Therefore, the newsvendor orders a larger quantity with BOGO than with a price reduction. Thus, BOGO can be used to counter strategic consumer behavior. Also, we find that in the presence of strategic consumers, there are cases where it is optimal for the retailer to wait and offer a straight discount at the end of the season. However, with BOGO, it is always optimal to offer a BOGO at the start of the season if realized demand is low. We examine the robustness of our results to different arrival rates and positive salvage value and find that they qualitatively hold.

Suggested Citation

  • Khouja, Moutaz & Li, Yuefeng & Zhou, Jing, 2023. "Nonlinear pricing for yield management and countering strategic consumer behavior," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 307(1), pages 212-232.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:307:y:2023:i:1:p:212-232
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2022.08.037
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221722006804
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ejor.2022.08.037?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Reza Ahmadi & Foad Iravani & Hamed Mamani, 2017. "Supply Chain Coordination in the Presence of Gray Markets and Strategic Consumers," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 26(2), pages 252-272, February.
    2. Nicholas C. Petruzzi & Maqbool Dada, 1999. "Pricing and the Newsvendor Problem: A Review with Extensions," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 47(2), pages 183-194, April.
    3. Gérard P. Cachon & Robert Swinney, 2009. "Purchasing, Pricing, and Quick Response in the Presence of Strategic Consumers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(3), pages 497-511, March.
    4. Yen-Ting Lin & Ali K. Parlaktürk & Jayashankar M. Swaminathan, 2018. "Are Strategic Customers Bad for a Supply Chain?," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 20(3), pages 481-497, July.
    5. Yuri Levin & Mikhail Nediak & Andrei Bazhanov, 2014. "Quantity Premiums and Discounts in Dynamic Pricing," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 62(4), pages 846-863, August.
    6. Ye Lu & Youhua (Frank) Chen & Miao Song & Xiaoming Yan, 2014. "Optimal Pricing and Inventory Control Policy with Quantity-Based Price Differentiation," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 62(3), pages 512-523, June.
    7. João L. Assunção & Robert J. Meyer, 1993. "The Rational Effect of Price Promotions on Sales and Consumption," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 39(5), pages 517-535, May.
    8. Yuxin Chen & Sridhar Moorthy & Z. John Zhang, 2005. "Research Note---Price Discrimination After the Purchase: Rebates as State-Dependent Discounts," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(7), pages 1131-1140, July.
    9. Retsef Levi & Georgia Perakis & Joline Uichanco, 2015. "The Data-Driven Newsvendor Problem: New Bounds and Insights," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 63(6), pages 1294-1306, December.
    10. Ningyuan Chen & Javad Nasiry, 2020. "Does Loss Aversion Preclude Price Variation?," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 22(2), pages 383-395, March.
    11. Gérard P. Cachon & Pnina Feldman, 2015. "Price Commitments with Strategic Consumers: Why It Can Be Optimal to Discount More Frequently … Than Optimal," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 17(3), pages 399-410, July.
    12. Xuanming Su, 2007. "Intertemporal Pricing with Strategic Customer Behavior," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(5), pages 726-741, May.
    13. Ruomeng Cui & Dennis J. Zhang & Achal Bassamboo, 2019. "Learning from Inventory Availability Information: Evidence from Field Experiments on Amazon," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(3), pages 1216-1235, March.
    14. Kyoung-Kuk Kim & Chi-Guhn Lee & Sunggyun Park, 2016. "Dynamic pricing with ‘BOGO’ promotion in revenue management," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(17), pages 5283-5302, September.
    15. Manel Baucells & Rakesh K. Sarin, 2010. "Predicting Utility Under Satiation and Habit Formation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(2), pages 286-301, February.
    16. Seungjin Whang, 2015. "Demand Uncertainty and the Bayesian Effect in Markdown Pricing with Strategic Customers," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 17(2), pages 66-77, January.
    17. Bylka, S.Stanislaw & Rempala, Ryszarda, 2004. "Heuristics for impulse replenishment with continuous periodic demand," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 183-190, March.
    18. Khouja, Moutaz & Subramaniam, Chandra & Vasudev, Vinay, 2020. "A comparative analysis of marketing promotions and implications for data analytics," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 151-174.
    19. Xuanming Su & Fuqiang Zhang, 2009. "On the Value of Commitment and Availability Guarantees When Selling to Strategic Consumers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(5), pages 713-726, May.
    20. Guoming Lai & Laurens G. Debo & Katia Sycara, 2010. "Erratum to "Buy Now and Match Later: Impact of Posterior Price Matching on Profit with Strategic Consumers"," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 12(2), pages 370-370.
    21. Shining Wu & Qian Liu & Rachel Q. Zhang, 2015. "The Reference Effects on a Retailer’s Dynamic Pricing and Inventory Strategies with Strategic Consumers," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 63(6), pages 1320-1335, December.
    22. Khouja, Moutaz & Park, Sungjune & Zhou, Jing, 2013. "A free gift card alternative to price discounts in the newsvendor problem," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 665-678.
    23. Zizhuo Wang, 2016. "Technical Note—Intertemporal Price Discrimination via Reference Price Effects," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 64(2), pages 290-296, April.
    24. Guoming Lai & Laurens G. Debo & Katia Sycara, 2010. "Buy Now and Match Later: Impact of Posterior Price Matching on Profit with Strategic Consumers," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 12(1), pages 33-55, December.
    25. Xuanming Su & Fuqiang Zhang, 2008. "Strategic Customer Behavior, Commitment, and Supply Chain Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(10), pages 1759-1773, October.
    26. Yuri Levin & Jeff McGill & Mikhail Nediak, 2009. "Dynamic Pricing in the Presence of Strategic Consumers and Oligopolistic Competition," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(1), pages 32-46, January.
    27. Jun Li & Nelson Granados & Serguei Netessine, 2014. "Are Consumers Strategic? Structural Estimation from the Air-Travel Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(9), pages 2114-2137, September.
    28. Vincent Mak & Amnon Rapoport & Eyran J. Gisches & Jiaojie Han, 2014. "Purchasing Scarce Products Under Dynamic Pricing: An Experimental Investigation," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 16(3), pages 425-438, July.
    29. Gonca P. Soysal & Lakshman Krishnamurthi, 2012. "Demand Dynamics in the Seasonal Goods Industry: An Empirical Analysis," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(2), pages 293-316, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hou, Lihua & Nie, Tengfei & Zhang, Jianghua, 2024. "Pricing and inventory strategies for perishable products in a competitive market considering strategic consumers," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    2. Zhang, Yingdan & Yang, Ruina & Yi, Zelong & Yao, Shiqing & Jing, Yiheng, 2023. "Behavior-Based pricing under asymmetric channel competition with strategic consumers," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    3. Chen, Claire Y.T. & Sun, Edward W. & Miao, Wanyu & Lin, Yi-Bing, 2024. "Reconciling business analytics with graphically initialized subspace clustering for optimal nonlinear pricing," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 312(3), pages 1086-1107.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Khouja, Moutaz & Liu, Xin, 2021. "A price adjustment policy for maximizing revenue and countering strategic consumer behavior," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    2. Arian Aflaki & Pnina Feldman & Robert Swinney, 2019. "Becoming Strategic: Endogenous Consumer Time Preferences and Multiperiod Pricing," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 68(4), pages 1116-1131, July.
    3. Yen-Ting Lin & Ali K. Parlaktürk & Jayashankar M. Swaminathan, 2018. "Are Strategic Customers Bad for a Supply Chain?," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 20(3), pages 481-497, July.
    4. Liu, Jingchen & Zhai, Xin & Chen, Lihua, 2018. "The interaction between product rollover strategy and pricing scheme," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 201(C), pages 116-135.
    5. Nicole Perez Becker & Benny Mantin & Joachim Arts, 2022. "Strategic Behavior in a Serial Newsvendor," DEM Discussion Paper Series 22-02, Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg.
    6. Yossi Aviv & Mike Mingcheng Wei & Fuqiang Zhang, 2019. "Responsive Pricing of Fashion Products: The Effects of Demand Learning and Strategic Consumer Behavior," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(7), pages 2982-3000, July.
    7. Liu, Jingchen & Zhai, Xin & Chen, Lihua, 2019. "Optimal pricing strategy under trade-in program in the presence of strategic consumers," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 1-17.
    8. Dong, Junfeng & Wu, Desheng Dash, 2019. "Two-period pricing and quick response with strategic customers," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 165-173.
    9. Ye, Taofeng & Yang, Huiqiang, 2020. "Price and Quality Management with Strategic Consumers: Whether to Introduce a High or Low Product Variant," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 386(C).
    10. Yiwei Chen & Vivek F. Farias, 2018. "Robust Dynamic Pricing with Strategic Customers," Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 43(4), pages 1119-1142, November.
    11. Fei Gao & Xuanming Su, 2017. "Omnichannel Retail Operations with Buy-Online-and-Pick-up-in-Store," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(8), pages 2478-2492, August.
    12. Wu, Meng & Ran, Yun & Zhu, Stuart X., 2022. "Optimal pricing strategy: How to sell to strategic consumers?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    13. Mehmet Sekip Altug & Tolga Aydinliyim, 2016. "Counteracting Strategic Purchase Deferrals: The Impact of Online Retailers’ Return Policy Decisions," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 18(3), pages 376-392, July.
    14. John R. Birge & Rodney P. Parker & Michelle Xiao Wu & S. Alex Yang, 2017. "When Customers Anticipate Liquidation Sales: Managing Operations Under Financial Distress," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 19(4), pages 657-673, October.
    15. Liang, Xiaoying & Ma, Lijun & Xie, Lei & Yan, Houmin, 2014. "The informational aspect of the group-buying mechanism," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 234(1), pages 331-340.
    16. Feng Yang & Junjun Kong & Minyue Jin, 2019. "Two-Period Pricing with Selling Effort in the Presence of Strategic Customers," Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research (APJOR), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 36(03), pages 1-21, June.
    17. Shining Wu & Qian Liu & Rachel Q. Zhang, 2015. "The Reference Effects on a Retailer’s Dynamic Pricing and Inventory Strategies with Strategic Consumers," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 63(6), pages 1320-1335, December.
    18. Mou, Shandong & Robb, David J. & DeHoratius, Nicole, 2018. "Retail store operations: Literature review and research directions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 265(2), pages 399-422.
    19. Cuihong Li & Fuqiang Zhang, 2013. "Advance Demand Information, Price Discrimination, and Preorder Strategies," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 15(1), pages 57-71, September.
    20. Fei Gao & Xuanming Su, 2017. "Manufacturing & Service Operations Management," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 19(1), pages 84-98, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:307:y:2023:i:1:p:212-232. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eor .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.