IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v66y2020i6p2589-2609.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Long-term and Spillover Effects of Price Promotions on Retailing Platforms: Evidence from a Large Randomized Experiment on Alibaba

Author

Listed:
  • Dennis J. Zhang

    (Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130)

  • Hengchen Dai

    (Anderson School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095)

  • Lingxiu Dong

    (Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130)

  • Fangfang Qi

    (Tmall Business Unit, Alibaba Group, Inc., 310023 Hangzhou, China)

  • Nannan Zhang

    (Tmall Business Unit, Alibaba Group, Inc., 310023 Hangzhou, China)

  • Xiaofei Liu

    (Tmall Business Unit, Alibaba Group, Inc., 310023 Hangzhou, China)

  • Zhongyi Liu

    (Tmall Business Unit, Alibaba Group, Inc., 310023 Hangzhou, China)

  • Jiang Yang

    (Tmall Business Unit, Alibaba Group, Inc., 310023 Hangzhou, China)

Abstract

Dynamic pricing through price promotions has been widely used by online retailers. We study how a promotion strategy, one that offers customers a discount for products in their shopping cart, affects customer behavior in the short and long term on a retailing platform. We conduct a randomized field experiment involving more than 100 million customers and 11,000 retailers with Alibaba Group, one of the world’s largest retailing platform. We randomly assign eligible customers to either receive promotions for products in their shopping cart (treatment group) or not receive promotions (control group). In the short term, our promotion program doubles the sales of promoted products on the day of promotion. In the long term, we causally document unintended consequences of this promotion program during the month after our treatment period. On the positive side, it boosts customer engagement, increasing the daily number of products that customers view and their purchase incidence on the platform. On the negative side, it intensifies strategic customer behavior in the posttreatment period in two ways: (1) by increasing the proportion of products that customers add to their shopping cart conditional on viewing them, possibly because of their intention to get more shopping cart promotions, and (2) by decreasing the price that customers subsequently pay for a product, possibly because of their strategic search for lower prices. Importantly, these long-term effects of price promotions on consumer engagement and strategic behavior spill over to sellers who did not previously offer promotions to customers. Finally, we examine heterogeneous treatment effects across promotion, seller, and consumer characteristics. These findings have important implications for platforms and retailers.

Suggested Citation

  • Dennis J. Zhang & Hengchen Dai & Lingxiu Dong & Fangfang Qi & Nannan Zhang & Xiaofei Liu & Zhongyi Liu & Jiang Yang, 2020. "The Long-term and Spillover Effects of Price Promotions on Retailing Platforms: Evidence from a Large Randomized Experiment on Alibaba," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(6), pages 2589-2609, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:66:y:2020:i:6:p:2589-2609
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2019.3316
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2019.3316
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mnsc.2019.3316?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. Botond Kőszegi & Matthew Rabin, 2006. "A Model of Reference-Dependent Preferences," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(4), pages 1133-1165.
    2. Kamel Jedidi & Carl F. Mela & Sunil Gupta, 1999. "Managing Advertising and Promotion for Long-Run Profitability," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(1), pages 1-22.
    3. Jiaru Bai & Kut C. So & Christopher S. Tang & Xiqun (Michael) Chen & Hai Wang, 2019. "Coordinating Supply and Demand on an On-Demand Service Platform with Impatient Customers," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 21(3), pages 556-570, July.
    4. Ryan W. Buell & Dennis Campbell & Frances X. Frei, 2016. "How Do Customers Respond to Increased Service Quality Competition?," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 18(4), pages 585-607, October.
    5. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    6. Nevo, Aviv, 2001. "Measuring Market Power in the Ready-to-Eat Cereal Industry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(2), pages 307-342, March.
    7. Dennis J. Zhang & Gad Allon & Jan A. Van Mieghem, 2017. "Does Social Interaction Improve Learning Outcomes? Evidence from Field Experiments on Massive Open Online Courses," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 19(3), pages 347-367, July.
    8. Yina Lu & Andrés Musalem & Marcelo Olivares & Ariel Schilkrut, 2013. "Measuring the Effect of Queues on Customer Purchases," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(8), pages 1743-1763, August.
    9. 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.
    10. Vincent R. Nijs & Marnik G. Dekimpe & Jan-Benedict E.M. Steenkamps & Dominique M. Hanssens, 2001. "The Category-Demand Effects of Price Promotions," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(1), pages 1-22, September.
    11. Ioana Popescu & Yaozhong Wu, 2007. "Dynamic Pricing Strategies with Reference Effects," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 55(3), pages 413-429, June.
    12. Johnson, Eric J & Russo, J Edward, 1984. "Product Familiarity and Learning New Information," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 11(1), pages 542-550, June.
    13. Richard H. Thaler, 2008. "Mental Accounting and Consumer Choice," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(1), pages 15-25, 01-02.
    14. Terry A. Taylor, 2018. "On-Demand Service Platforms," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 20(4), pages 704-720, October.
    15. 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.
    16. Chris Parker & Kamalini Ramdas & Nicos Savva, 2016. "Is IT Enough? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in India’s Agriculture Markets," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(9), pages 2481-2503, September.
    17. Wang Chi Cheung & David Simchi-Levi & He Wang, 2017. "Technical Note—Dynamic Pricing and Demand Learning with Limited Price Experimentation," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 65(6), pages 1722-1731, December.
    18. Maxime C. Cohen & Ngai-Hang Zachary Leung & Kiran Panchamgam & Georgia Perakis & Anthony Smith, 2017. "The Impact of Linear Optimization on Promotion Planning," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 65(2), pages 446-468, April.
    19. Burdett, Kenneth & Judd, Kenneth L, 1983. "Equilibrium Price Dispersion," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 51(4), pages 955-969, July.
    20. Eric T. Anderson & Duncan I. Simester, 2004. "Long-Run Effects of Promotion Depth on New Versus Established Customers: Three Field Studies," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(1), pages 4-20, February.
    21. Xuanming Su & Fuqiang Zhang, 2008. "Strategic Customer Behavior, Commitment, and Supply Chain Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(10), pages 1759-1773, October.
    22. Javad Nasiry & Ioana Popescu, 2011. "Dynamic Pricing with Loss-Averse Consumers and Peak-End Anchoring," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 59(6), pages 1361-1368, December.
    23. 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.
    24. Dennis J. Zhang & Hengchen Dai & Lingxiu Dong & Fangfang Qi & Nannan Zhang & Xiaofei Liu & Zhongyi Liu & Jiang Yang, 2018. "How Do Price Promotions Affect Customer Behavior on Retailing Platforms? Evidence from a Large Randomized Experiment on Alibaba," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 27(12), pages 2343-2345, December.
    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. Fangchao Xu & Xin Lu & Xiukun Zhao, 2022. "The Implications of Socially Responsible Retailing Platform on Channel Structure Choice and Product Quality Decisions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-14, May.
    2. Kopalle, Praveen K. & Pauwels, Koen & Akella, Laxminarayana Yashaswy & Gangwar, Manish, 2023. "Dynamic pricing: Definition, implications for managers, and future research directions," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 99(4), pages 580-593.
    3. Peng Vincent Zhang & Seoyoung Kim & Anindita Chakravarty, 2023. "Influence of pull marketing actions on marketing action effectiveness of multichannel firms: A meta-analysis," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 310-333, March.
    4. Zikun Ye & Dennis J. Zhang & Heng Zhang & Renyu Zhang & Xin Chen & Zhiwei Xu, 2023. "Cold Start to Improve Market Thickness on Online Advertising Platforms: Data-Driven Algorithms and Field Experiments," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(7), pages 3838-3860, July.
    5. Xie, Jiaping & Wei, Lihong & Zhu, Weijun & Zhang, Weisi, 2021. "Platform supply chain pricing and financing: Who benefits from e-commerce consumer credit?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    6. Prakash, David & Spann, Martin, 2022. "Dynamic pricing and reference price effects," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 300-314.
    7. Wang, Qian & Chen, Hang, 2022. "Better or Worse? Effects of online promotion habits on customer value: An empirical study," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    8. Yong Zha & Quan Li & Tingliang Huang & Yugang Yu, 2023. "Strategic Information Sharing of Online Platforms as Resellers or Marketplaces," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(4), pages 659-678, July.
    9. Chen, Pingping & Zhao, Ruiqing & Yan, Yingchen & Zhou, Chi, 2021. "Promoting end-of-season product through online channel in an uncertain market," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 295(3), pages 935-948.
    10. Pinçe, Çerağ, 2021. "Forward Buying and Strategic Stockouts," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 289(1), pages 118-131.
    11. Tian, Xin & Zhu, Jiayi & Zhao, Xuan & Zhou, Xiaoyang, 2024. "Unveiling insights from online shopping carnivals: A pre-vs-post analysis," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    12. Zhang, Yanfen & Xu, Qi & Zhang, Guoqing, 2023. "Optimal contracts with moral hazard and adverse selection in a live streaming commerce market," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    13. Ji, Guojun & Fu, Tianyu & Li, Shuhao, 2023. "Optimal selling format considering price discount strategy in live-streaming commerce," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 309(2), pages 529-544.
    14. Xiaolong Guo & Shengming Zheng & Yugang Yu & Fuqiang Zhang, 2021. "Optimal Bundling Strategy for a Retail Platform Under Agency Selling," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(7), pages 2273-2284, July.

    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. Chen, Mingyang & Zhao, Daozhi & Gong, Yeming & Hong, Zhaofu, 2021. "Reference-dependent preferences in the on-demand service newsvendor with self-scheduling capacity," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    2. Opher Baron & Ming Hu & Sami Najafi-Asadolahi & Qu Qian, 2015. "Newsvendor Selling to Loss-Averse Consumers with Stochastic Reference Points," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 17(4), pages 456-469, October.
    3. Ahrens, Steffen & Pirschel, Inske & Snower, Dennis J., 2017. "A theory of price adjustment under loss aversion," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 78-95.
    4. Colombo, Luca & Labrecciosa, Paola, 2021. "Dynamic oligopoly pricing with reference-price effects," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 288(3), pages 1006-1016.
    5. Tramontana, Fabio, 2021. "When a boundedly rational monopolist meets consumers with reference dependent preferences," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 30-45.
    6. Zhenyu Hu & Javad Nasiry, 2018. "Are Markets with Loss-Averse Consumers More Sensitive to Losses?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(3), pages 1384-1395, March.
    7. Karen Donohue & Özalp Özer, 2020. "Behavioral Operations: Past, Present, and Future," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 191-202, January.
    8. Özalp Özer & Yanchong Zheng, 2016. "Markdown or Everyday Low Price? The Role of Behavioral Motives," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(2), pages 326-346, February.
    9. Chaab, Jafar & Zaccour, Georges, 2024. "Dynamic pricing in the presence of social externalities and reference-price effect," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 122(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. Nicole Koschate-Fischer & Katharina Wüllner, 2017. "New developments in behavioral pricing research," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 87(6), pages 809-875, August.
    12. Christian Terwiesch & Marcelo Olivares & Bradley R. Staats & Vishal Gaur, 2020. "OM Forum—A Review of Empirical Operations Management over the Last Two Decades," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 22(4), pages 656-668, July.
    13. Chen, Junlin & Zhao, Yingshuai, 2020. "High price or low price? An experimental study on a markdown pricing policy," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 284(1), pages 240-254.
    14. Wang, Qiang & Zhao, Nenggui & Wu, Jie & Zhu, Qingyuan, 2021. "Optimal pricing and inventory policies with reference price effect and loss-Averse customers," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    15. Amit Mehra & Sajeesh Sajeesh & Sudhir Voleti, 2020. "Impact of Reference Prices on Product Positioning and Profits," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(4), pages 882-892, April.
    16. 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.
    17. MartI´n-Herrán, Guiomar & Sigué, Simon P., 2011. "Prices, promotions, and channel profitability: Was the conventional wisdom mistaken?," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 211(2), pages 415-425, June.
    18. Martín-Herrán, Guiomar & Taboubi, Sihem, 2015. "Price coordination in distribution channels: A dynamic perspective," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 240(2), pages 401-414.
    19. Huang, Lingchen & Huang, Zongsheng & Liu, Bin, 2022. "Interacting with strategic waiting for store brand: Online selling format selection," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    20. Guan, Xu & Wang, Yulan, 2022. "Quality disclosure in a competitive environment with consumer’s elation and disappointment," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).

    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:66:y:2020:i:6:p:2589-2609. 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.