IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/orisre/v31y2020i4p1421-1442.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Distance and Local Competition in Mobile Geofencing

Author

Listed:
  • Yi-Jen (Ian) Ho

    (Smeal College of Business, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802)

  • Sanjeev Dewan

    (Merage School of Business, University of California, Irvine, California 92697)

  • Yi-Chun (Chad) Ho

    (School of Business, George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia 20052)

Abstract

This research studies the performance of geofencing, a practice where mobile users are targeted within a predefined virtual geographic boundary around an advertiser’s establishment. We argue the significance of distance (i.e., the mileage from a consumer to a focal establishment) and local competition (i.e., the number of alternatives in consumer vicinity) in ad responses. Drawing on the notion of the purchase funnel, we develop a two-stage hierarchical Bayesian model to examine consumer click and conversion choices. A unique data set of geofencing ad impressions is collected from one of the largest location-based marketing agencies in the United States. The results suggest that local competition matters in the click stage, whereas distance influences the propensity of conversion. Quantitatively, one additional competitor in the consumer vicinity zone lowers the click-through rate by 1.03%, whereas a 1-mile increase in distance results in a 17.64% decrease in the conversion rate. We also find a significant interactive effect, whereby a higher degree of local competition amplifies the negative impact of distance on the likelihood of conversions. Additionally, product differentiation ameliorates the effects of distance and local competition, whereas these effects are found to be more prominent during office working hours. This study discovers the stage-varying roles of distance and local competition along the customer journey and offers new directions for more effective location-based targeting.

Suggested Citation

  • Yi-Jen (Ian) Ho & Sanjeev Dewan & Yi-Chun (Chad) Ho, 2020. "Distance and Local Competition in Mobile Geofencing," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(4), pages 1421-1442, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orisre:v:31:y:2020:i:4:p:1421-1442
    DOI: 10.1287/isre.2020.0953
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2020.0953
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/isre.2020.0953?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. Shuba Srinivasan & Oliver J. Rutz & Koen Pauwels, 2016. "Paths to and off purchase: quantifying the impact of traditional marketing and online consumer activity," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 440-453, July.
    2. Oded Netzer & James M. Lattin & V. Srinivasan, 2008. "A Hidden Markov Model of Customer Relationship Dynamics," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(2), pages 185-204, 03-04.
    3. Ali Hortaçsu & Chad Syverson, 2004. "Product Differentiation, Search Costs, and Competition in the Mutual Fund Industry: A Case Study of S&P 500 Index Funds," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(2), pages 403-456.
    4. Anindya Ghose & Avi Goldfarb & Sang Pil Han, 2013. "How Is the Mobile Internet Different? Search Costs and Local Activities," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 613-631, September.
    5. Greg Shaffer & Z. John Zhang, 1995. "Competitive Coupon Targeting," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 14(4), pages 395-416.
    6. Lussier, Denis A & Olshavsky, Richard W, 1979. "Task Complexity and Contingent Processing in Brand Choice," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 6(2), pages 154-165, Se.
    7. Thomas A. Weber & Zhiqiang (Eric) Zheng, 2007. "A Model of Search Intermediaries and Paid Referrals," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 18(4), pages 414-436, December.
    8. Dixit, Avinash K & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1977. "Monopolistic Competition and Optimum Product Diversity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(3), pages 297-308, June.
    9. Konrad Stahl, 1982. "Location and Spatial Pricing Theory with Nonconvex Transportation Cost Schedules," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 13(2), pages 575-582, Autumn.
    10. Chris Forman & Anindya Ghose & Avi Goldfarb, 2009. "Competition Between Local and Electronic Markets: How the Benefit of Buying Online Depends on Where You Live," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(1), pages 47-57, January.
    11. Avner Shaked & John Sutton, 1982. "Relaxing Price Competition Through Product Differentiation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 49(1), pages 3-13.
    12. David J. Spiegelhalter & Nicola G. Best & Bradley P. Carlin & Angelika Van Der Linde, 2002. "Bayesian measures of model complexity and fit," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 64(4), pages 583-639, October.
    13. Anindya Ghose & Sang Pil Han, 2014. "Estimating Demand for Mobile Applications in the New Economy," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(6), pages 1470-1488, June.
    14. Dennis H. Gensch, 1987. "A Two-Stage Disaggregate Attribute Choice Model," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 6(3), pages 223-239.
    15. Rosen, Sherwin, 1974. "Hedonic Prices and Implicit Markets: Product Differentiation in Pure Competition," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(1), pages 34-55, Jan.-Feb..
    16. Bresnahan, Timothy F & Reiss, Peter C, 1991. "Entry and Competition in Concentrated Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(5), pages 977-1009, October.
    17. Katz, Michael L & Shapiro, Carl, 1985. "Network Externalities, Competition, and Compatibility," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(3), pages 424-440, June.
    18. Yuxin Chen & Xinxin Li & Monic Sun, 2017. "Competitive Mobile Geo Targeting," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(5), pages 666-682, September.
    19. Jean-Pierre Dubé & Zheng Fang & Nathan Fong & Xueming Luo, 2017. "Competitive Price Targeting with Smartphone Coupons," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(6), pages 944-975, November.
    20. Zheng Fang & Bin Gu & Xueming Luo & Yunjie Xu, 2015. "Contemporaneous and Delayed Sales Impact of Location-Based Mobile Promotions," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 26(3), pages 552-564, September.
    21. Yi-Chun (Chad) Ho & Junjie Wu & Yong Tan, 2017. "Disconfirmation Effect on Online Rating Behavior: A Structural Model," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 28(3), pages 626-642, September.
    22. Marc Vanhuele & Shuba Srinivasan & Koen Pauwels, 2010. "Mindset Metrics in Market Response Models: An Integrative Approach," Post-Print hal-00528411, HAL.
    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. Yi‐Jen (Ian) Ho & Siyuan Liu & Jingchuan Pu & Dian Zhang, 2022. "Is it all about you or your driving? Designing IoT‐enabled risk assessments," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(11), pages 4205-4222, November.
    2. Xue Sun & Yuhao Li & Bo Guo & Li Gao, 2023. "Marketing Automation: How to Effectively Lead the Advertising Promotion for Social Reconstruction in Hotels," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-20, March.
    3. Ding, Long & Liu, Peng & Hu, Sen, 2023. "Geo-Fencing or Geo-Conquesting? a strategic analysis of Location-Based coupon under different market structures," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    4. Lei Wang & Ram Gopal & Ramesh Shankar & Joseph Pancras, 2022. "Forecasting venue popularity on location‐based services using interpretable machine learning," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(7), pages 2773-2788, 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. Tianshu Sun & Lanfei Shi & Siva Viswanathan & Elena Zheleva, 2019. "Motivating Effective Mobile App Adoptions: Evidence from a Large-Scale Randomized Field Experiment," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 30(2), pages 523-539, June.
    2. Belleflamme,Paul & Peitz,Martin, 2015. "Industrial Organization," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107687899, January.
    3. Luo, Meiling & Li, Gang & Chen, Xudong, 2021. "Competitive location-based mobile coupon targeting strategy," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    4. Brent Kitchens & Anuj Kumar & Praveen Pathak, 2018. "Electronic Markets and Geographic Competition Among Small, Local Firms," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 29(4), pages 928-946, December.
    5. Verhoef, Peter C. & Stephen, Andrew T. & Kannan, P.K. & Luo, Xueming & Abhishek, Vibhanshu & Andrews, Michelle & Bart, Yakov & Datta, Hannes & Fong, Nathan & Hoffman, Donna L. & Hu, Mandy Mantian & No, 2017. "Consumer Connectivity in a Complex, Technology-enabled, and Mobile-oriented World with Smart Products," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 1-8.
    6. Catherine Matraves & Laura Rondi, 2007. "Product Differentiation, Industry Concentration and Market Share Turbulence," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 37-57.
    7. Yuxin Chen & Xinxin Li & Monic Sun, 2017. "Competitive Mobile Geo Targeting," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(5), pages 666-682, September.
    8. Li, Qi & Wang, Quansheng & Song, Peijian, 2022. "Do customers always adopt buy-online-and-pick-up-in-store service? Consideration of location-based store density in omni-channel retailing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    9. Baye, Irina & Reiz, Tim & Sapi, Geza, 2018. "Customer recognition and mobile geo-targeting," DICE Discussion Papers 285, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    10. Gabaix, Xavier & Laibson, David & Li, Deyuan & Li, Hongyi & Resnick, Sidney & de Vries, Casper G., 2016. "The impact of competition on prices with numerous firms," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 1-24.
    11. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:12:y:2008:i:15:p:1-10 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Etro, Federico, 2016. "Research in economics and industrial organization," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(4), pages 511-517.
    13. Luis Aguiar Wicht, 2019. "Going Mobile: The Effects of Smartphone Usage on Internet Consumption," JRC Working Papers on Digital Economy 2019-07, Joint Research Centre.
    14. Jonathan Z. Zhang & Chun-Wei Chang, 2021. "Consumer dynamics: theories, methods, and emerging directions," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 166-196, January.
    15. Victor Manuel Bennett & Lamar Pierce & Jason A. Snyder & Michael W. Toffel, 2013. "Customer-Driven Misconduct: How Competition Corrupts Business Practices," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(8), pages 1725-1742, August.
    16. Su, Tong-Yaa, 2016. "Competition between Firms in Economic Evolution: Its Characteristics and Differences to the Biological Sphere," MPRA Paper 72756, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Robert W. Palmatier & Andrew T. Crecelius, 2019. "The “first principles” of marketing strategy," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 9(1), pages 5-26, June.
    18. Clarissa Yeap, 2006. "The Production Decisions of Large Competitors: Detecting Cost Advantages and Strategic Behavior in Restaurants," Working Papers 06-19, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    19. Chen, Yuwen & Ni, John & Yu, Degan, 2019. "Application developers’ product offering strategies in multi-platform markets," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 273(1), pages 320-333.
    20. Hurkens, Sjaak & Vulkan, Nir, 2003. "Free entry does not imply zero profits," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 81(3), pages 285-290, December.
    21. Siliang Tong & Xueming Luo & Bo Xu, 2020. "Personalized mobile marketing strategies," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 64-78, January.

    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:orisre:v:31:y:2020:i:4:p:1421-1442. 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.