IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v49y2003i10p1287-1309.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dynamic Pricing in the Presence of Inventory Considerations: Research Overview, Current Practices, and Future Directions

Author

Listed:
  • Wedad Elmaghraby

    (School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332)

  • P{i}nar Keskinocak

    (School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332)

Abstract

The benefits of dynamic pricing methods have long been known in industries, such as airlines, hotels, and electric utilities, where the capacity is fixed in the short-term and perishable. In recent years, there has been an increasing adoption of dynamic pricing policies in retail and other industries, where the sellers have the ability to store inventory. Three factors contributed to this phenomenon: (1) the increased availability of demand data, (2) the ease of changing prices due to new technologies, and (3) the availability of decision-support tools for analyzing demand data and for dynamic pricing. This paper constitutes a review of the literature and current practices in dynamic pricing. Given its applicability in most markets and its increasing adoption in practice, our focus is on dynamic (intertemporal) pricing in the presence of inventory considerations.

Suggested Citation

  • Wedad Elmaghraby & P{i}nar Keskinocak, 2003. "Dynamic Pricing in the Presence of Inventory Considerations: Research Overview, Current Practices, and Future Directions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(10), pages 1287-1309, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:49:y:2003:i:10:p:1287-1309
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.49.10.1287.17315
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.49.10.1287.17315
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mnsc.49.10.1287.17315?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Guillermo Gallego & Garrett van Ryzin, 1994. "Optimal Dynamic Pricing of Inventories with Stochastic Demand over Finite Horizons," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(8), pages 999-1020, August.
    2. B. Peter Pashigian & Brian Bowen, 1991. "Why Are Products Sold on Sale?: Explanations of Pricing Regularities," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(4), pages 1015-1038.
    3. John Conlisk & Eitan Gerstner & Joel Sobel, 1984. "Cyclic Pricing by a Durable Goods Monopolist," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 99(3), pages 489-505.
    4. Joel Sobel, 1984. "The Timing of Sales," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 51(3), pages 353-368.
    5. Gabriel Bitran & René Caldentey & Susana Mondschein, 1998. "Coordinating Clearance Markdown Sales of Seasonal Products in Retail Chains," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 46(5), pages 609-624, October.
    6. Rao, Vithala R, 1984. "Pricing Research in Marketing: The State of the Art," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57(1), pages 39-60, January.
    7. P. S. Bradley & Usama M. Fayyad & O. L. Mangasarian, 1999. "Mathematical Programming for Data Mining: Formulations and Challenges," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 11(3), pages 217-238, August.
    8. Elizabeth J. Warner & Robert B. Barsky, 1995. "The Timing and Magnitude of Retail Store Markdowns: Evidence from Weekends and Holidays," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(2), pages 321-352.
    9. Jeffrey I. McGill & Garrett J. van Ryzin, 1999. "Revenue Management: Research Overview and Prospects," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(2), pages 233-256, May.
    10. Arthur F. Veinott, Jr. & Harvey M. Wagner, 1965. "Computing Optimal (s, S) Inventory Policies," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(5), pages 525-552, March.
    11. Rotemberg, Julio J & Saloner, Garth, 1986. "A Supergame-Theoretic Model of Price Wars during Booms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(3), pages 390-407, June.
    12. Shlomo Kalish, 1983. "Monopolist Pricing with Dynamic Demand and Production Cost," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(2), pages 135-159.
    13. Milgrom, Paul & Shannon, Chris, 1994. "Monotone Comparative Statics," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(1), pages 157-180, January.
    14. Varian, Hal R., 1989. "Price discrimination," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 10, pages 597-654, Elsevier.
    15. Michael Landsberger & Isaac Meilijson, 1985. "Intertemporal Price Discrimination and Sales Strategy under Incomplete Information," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 16(3), pages 424-430, Autumn.
    16. David Besanko & Wayne L. Winston, 1990. "Optimal Price Skimming by a Monopolist Facing Rational Consumers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(5), pages 555-567, May.
    17. Youyi Feng & Baichun Xiao, 2000. "Optimal Policies of Yield Management with Multiple Predetermined Prices," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 48(2), pages 332-343, April.
    18. Pashigian, B Peter, 1988. "Demand Uncertainty and Sales: A Study of Fashion and Markdown Pricin g," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(5), pages 936-953, December.
    19. Chen, Yu-Min & Jain, Dipak C, 1992. "Dynamic Monopoly Pricing under a Poisson-Type Uncertain Demand," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 65(4), pages 593-614, October.
    20. Wen Zhao & Yu-Sheng Zheng, 2000. "Optimal Dynamic Pricing for Perishable Assets with Nonhomogeneous Demand," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(3), pages 375-388, March.
    21. Green, Edward J & Porter, Robert H, 1984. "Noncooperative Collusion under Imperfect Price Information," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(1), pages 87-100, January.
    22. Paul Klemperer, 1999. "Auction Theory: A Guide to the Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(3), pages 227-286, July.
    23. Lazear, Edward P, 1986. "Retail Pricing and Clearance Sales," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(1), pages 14-32, March.
    24. Kalyan Raman & Rabikar Chatterjee, 1995. "Optimal Monopolist Pricing Under Demand Uncertainty in Dynamic Markets," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(1), pages 144-162, January.
    25. McAfee, R Preston & McMillan, John, 1987. "Auctions and Bidding," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 25(2), pages 699-738, June.
    26. R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), 1989. "Handbook of Industrial Organization," Handbook of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    27. Mark Stiving, 2000. "Price-Endings When Prices Signal Quality," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(12), pages 1617-1629, December.
    28. Awi Federgruen & Aliza Heching, 1999. "Combined Pricing and Inventory Control Under Uncertainty," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 47(3), pages 454-475, June.
    29. E. Zabel, 1970. "Monopoly and Uncertainty," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 37(2), pages 205-219.
    30. Youyi Feng & Guillermo Gallego, 1995. "Optimal Starting Times for End-of-Season Sales and Optimal Stopping Times for Promotional Fares," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(8), pages 1371-1391, August.
    31. Yongmin Chen, 1997. "Paying Customers to Switch," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(4), pages 877-897, December.
    32. Albert Y. Ha, 2001. "Optimal Pricing That Coordinates Queues with Customer-Chosen Service Requirements," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 47(7), pages 915-930, July.
    33. Arvind Rajan & Richard Rakesh, 1992. "Dynamic Pricing and Ordering Decisions by a Monopolist," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(2), pages 240-262, February.
    34. Murali K. Mantrala & Surya Rao, 2001. "A Decision-Support System that Helps Retailers Decide Order Quantities and Markdowns for Fashion Goods," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 31(3_supplem), pages 146-165, June.
    35. Frank M. Bass, 1969. "A New Product Growth for Model Consumer Durables," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 15(5), pages 215-227, January.
    36. Gabriel R. Bitran & Susana V. Mondschein, 1997. "Periodic Pricing of Seasonal Products in Retailing," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(1), pages 64-79, January.
    37. Raju, Jagmohan S., 1995. "Theoretical models of sales promotions: Contributions, limitations, and a future research agenda," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 1-17, August.
    38. Peter O. Steiner, 1957. "Peak Loads and Efficient Pricing," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 71(4), pages 585-610.
    39. O. L. Mangasarian, 1965. "Linear and Nonlinear Separation of Patterns by Linear Programming," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 13(3), pages 444-452, June.
    40. Amiya K. Chakravarty & G. E. Martin, 1989. "Discount pricing policies for inventories subject to declining demand," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(1), pages 89-102, February.
    41. Joseph Thomas, 1970. "Price-Production Decisions with Deterministic Demand," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(11), pages 747-750, July.
    42. Bruce Robinson & Chet Lakhani, 1975. "Dynamic Price Models for New-Product Planning," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(10), pages 1113-1122, June.
    43. Nagle, Thomas, 1984. "Economic Foundations for Pricing," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57(1), pages 3-26, January.
    44. Klemperer, Paul, 1999. " Auction Theory: A Guide to the Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(3), pages 227-86, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Gabriel Bitran & René Caldentey, 2003. "An Overview of Pricing Models for Revenue Management," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 5(3), pages 203-229, August.
    2. Bernardo Bertoldi & Chiara Giachino & Alberto Pastore, 2016. "Strategic pricing management in the omnichannel era," MERCATI & COMPETITIVIT?, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(4), pages 131-152.
    3. Wedad Elmaghraby & Altan Gülcü & P{i}nar Keskinocak, 2008. "Designing Optimal Preannounced Markdowns in the Presence of Rational Customers with Multiunit Demands," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 10(1), pages 126-148, June.
    4. Namin, Aidin & Soysal, Gonca P. & Ratchford, Brian T., 2022. "Alleviating demand uncertainty for seasonal goods: An analysis of attribute-based markdown policy for fashion retailers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 671-681.
    5. Nair, Anand & Closs, David J., 2006. "An examination of the impact of coordinating supply chain policies and price markdowns on short lifecycle product retail performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(2), pages 379-392, August.
    6. Namin, Aidin & Ratchford, Brian T. & Soysal, Gonca P., 2017. "An empirical analysis of demand variations and markdown policies for fashion retailers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 126-136.
    7. Stephen A. Smith & Dale D. Achabal, 1998. "Clearance Pricing and Inventory Policies for Retail Chains," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(3), pages 285-300, March.
    8. Netessine, Serguei, 2006. "Dynamic pricing of inventory/capacity with infrequent price changes," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 174(1), pages 553-580, October.
    9. Vincent C. Li & Yat-wah Wan & Chi-Leung Chu & Yi-Cheng Lin, 2020. "A Dynamic Programming-Based Heuristic for Markdown Pricing and Inventory Allocation of a Seasonal Product in a Retail Chain," Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research (APJOR), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 37(01), pages 1-30, January.
    10. Xuanming Su, 2007. "Intertemporal Pricing with Strategic Customer Behavior," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(5), pages 726-741, May.
    11. Wei-yu Kevin Chiang, 2012. "Supply Chain Dynamics and Channel Efficiency in Durable Product Pricing and Distribution," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 14(2), pages 327-343, April.
    12. Shiming Deng & Candace A. Yano, 2006. "Joint Production and Pricing Decisions with Setup Costs and Capacity Constraints," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(5), pages 741-756, May.
    13. Hyun-soo Ahn & Mehmet Gümüş & Philip Kaminsky, 2007. "Pricing and Manufacturing Decisions When Demand Is a Function of Prices in Multiple Periods," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 55(6), pages 1039-1057, December.
    14. Avi Herbon & Uriel Spiegel & Joseph Templeman, 2012. "Simulation study of the price differentiation effect in a stochastic deteriorating inventory with heterogeneous consumers -- freshness sensitivity," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(24), pages 3101-3119, August.
    15. 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.
    16. Chew, Ek Peng & Lee, Chulung & Liu, Rujing, 2009. "Joint inventory allocation and pricing decisions for perishable products," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(1), pages 139-150, July.
    17. Gupta, Diwakar & Hill, Arthur V. & Bouzdine-Chameeva, Tatiana, 2006. "A pricing model for clearing end-of-season retail inventory," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(2), pages 518-540, April.
    18. Ibrahim, Michael Nawar & Atiya, Amir F., 2016. "Analytical solutions to the dynamic pricing problem for time-normalized revenue," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 254(2), pages 632-643.
    19. Negin Golrezaei & Hamid Nazerzadeh & Ramandeep Randhawa, 2020. "Dynamic Pricing for Heterogeneous Time-Sensitive Customers," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 22(3), pages 562-581, May.
    20. Hongmin Li & Woonghee Tim Huh, 2012. "Optimal pricing for a short life‐cycle product when customer price‐sensitivity varies over time," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 59(7), pages 552-576, October.

    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:inm:ormnsc:v:49:y:2003:i:10:p:1287-1309. 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: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    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.