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The sales effect of word of mouth: a model for creative goods and estimates for novels

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  • Jonathan Beck

Abstract

Weekly sales of creative goods—like music records, movies, or books—usually peak shortly after release and then decline quickly. In many cases, however, they follow a hump-shaped pattern where sales increase for some time. A popular explanation for this phenomenon is word of mouth among a population of heterogeneous buyers, but previous studies typically assume buyer homogeneity or neglect word of mouth altogether. In this paper, I study a model of new-product diffusion with heterogeneous buyers that allows for a quantification of the sales effect of word of mouth. The model includes Christmas sales as a special case. All parameters have an intuitive interpretation. Simulation results suggest that the parameters are estimable for data that are not too volatile and that cover a sufficiently large part of a title’s life cycle. I estimate the model for four exemplary novels using scanner data on weekly sales. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007

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  • Jonathan Beck, 2007. "The sales effect of word of mouth: a model for creative goods and estimates for novels," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 31(1), pages 5-23, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jculte:v:31:y:2007:i:1:p:5-23
    DOI: 10.1007/s10824-006-9029-0
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    New-product diffusion; Word of mouth; Creative industries; C22; L82; M3;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes
    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media
    • M3 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising
    • I - Health, Education, and Welfare
    • I - Health, Education, and Welfare
    • I - Health, Education, and Welfare

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