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Experimenting with purchase history based price discrimination

Author

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  • Brokesova, Zuzana
  • Deck, Cary
  • Peliova, Jana

Abstract

Many purchases of differentiated goods are repeated, giving sellers the opportunity to engage in price discrimination based upon the shopper's previous behavior by either offering loyalty discounts to repeat buyers or introductory rates to new customers. Recent theoretical work suggests that loyalty discounts can be profitable to sellers when customer preferences are not stationary and sellers can pre-commit to prices for repeat buyers, but otherwise returning customers can be expected to pay the same or more than new buyers. This paper reports behavior in controlled laboratory experiments designed to empirically test the impact of these factors on pricing strategies. The results generally support the comparative static predictions of the theoretical model. When customer preferences are fixed over time, sellers attempt to lure customers from their rival. Price pre-commitment for repeat shoppers when buyer preferences vary over time resulted in modest loyalty pricing, but the discounts are not as prevalent as predicted as sellers rarely price below cost. Behaviorally, price pre-commitment to loyal customers is found to reduce prices overall.

Suggested Citation

  • Brokesova, Zuzana & Deck, Cary & Peliova, Jana, 2014. "Experimenting with purchase history based price discrimination," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 229-237.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:indorg:v:37:y:2014:i:c:p:229-237
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijindorg.2014.10.003
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Tolksdorf, Michel, 2022. "Experimenting with Purchase History Based Price Discrimination: a Comment," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 310, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    2. Michel Tolksdorf, 2023. "On Point Predictions and Reference Dependence in Behavior-Based Pricing Experiments," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14.
    3. Stefano Colombo, 2016. "Imperfect Behavior‐Based Price Discrimination," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 563-583, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Loyalty discounts; Poaching; Repeat purchases; Behavior based pricing;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C71 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Cooperative Games
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D41 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Perfect Competition

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