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Timing of Seasonal Sales

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  • Courty, Pascal
  • Li, Hao

Abstract

We present a model of timing of seasonal sales in which stores choose several designs before the season without knowing which, if any, is fashionable. Stores begin by charging high prices to capture the fashion market. As the season approaches the end with goods still unsold, stores have sales to capture the discount market. More designs and greater price competition in the discount market induce earlier sales. The results are consistent with the observation that the trend toward earlier sales since the mid-1970s coincides with increasing product varieties in fashion goods markets and increasing store competition. Copyright 1999 by University of Chicago Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Courty, Pascal & Li, Hao, 1999. "Timing of Seasonal Sales," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 72(4), pages 545-572, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jnlbus:v:72:y:1999:i:4:p:545-72
    DOI: 10.1086/209627
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Sarkar, Dev Narayan & Kundu, Kaushik & Roy Chaudhuri, Himadri, 2016. "Constructing a conceptual model of purchase behaviour of village shopkeepers – a study of small rural retailers in Eastern India," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 1-16.
    3. Dong, Zhiliang & An, Haizhong & Liu, Sen & Li, Zhengyang & Yuan, Meng, 2020. "Research on the time-varying network structure evolution of the stock indices of the BRICS countries based on fluctuation correlation," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 63-74.
    4. Otero, Daniel F. & Escallón, Mariana & López, Cristina & Akhavan-Tabatabaei, Raha, 2019. "Optimal timing of airline promotions under dilution," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 277(3), pages 981-995.
    5. 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.
    6. Lim, Bryan & Arık, Sercan Ö. & Loeff, Nicolas & Pfister, Tomas, 2021. "Temporal Fusion Transformers for interpretable multi-horizon time series forecasting," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1748-1764.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D40 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - General
    • L10 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - General

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