IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormsom/v14y2012i3p355-370.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Markdown Pricing with Unknown Fraction of Strategic Customers

Author

Listed:
  • Adam J. Mersereau

    (Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599)

  • Dan Zhang

    (Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309)

Abstract

A growing segment of the revenue management and pricing literature assumes "strategic" customers who are forward-looking in their pursuit of utility. Recognizing that such behavior may not be directly observable by a seller, we examine the implications of seller uncertainty over strategic customer behavior in a markdown pricing setting. We assume that some proportion of customers purchase impulsively in the first period if the price is below their willingness to pay, while other customers strategically wait for lower prices in the second period. We consider a two-period selling season in which the seller knows the aggregate demand curve but not the proportion of customers behaving strategically. We show that a robust pricing policy that requires no knowledge of the extent of strategic behavior performs remarkably well. We extend our model to a setting with stochastic demand, and show that the robust pricing policy continues to perform well, particularly as capacity is loosened or the problem is scaled up. Our results underscore the need to recognize strategic behavior, but also suggest that in many cases effective performance is possible without precise knowledge of strategic behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Adam J. Mersereau & Dan Zhang, 2012. "Markdown Pricing with Unknown Fraction of Strategic Customers," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 14(3), pages 355-370, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormsom:v:14:y:2012:i:3:p:355-370
    DOI: 10.1287/msom.1120.0376
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/msom.1120.0376
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/msom.1120.0376?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. Qian Liu & Garrett J. van Ryzin, 2008. "Strategic Capacity Rationing to Induce Early Purchases," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(6), pages 1115-1131, June.
    2. Guillermo Gallego & Garrett van Ryzin, 1994. "Optimal Dynamic Pricing of Inventories with Stochastic Demand over Finite Horizons," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(8), pages 999-1020, August.
    3. C K Anderson & J G Wilson, 2003. "Wait or buy? The strategic consumer: Pricing and profit implications," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 54(3), pages 299-306, March.
    4. Harikesh Nair, 2007. "Intertemporal price discrimination with forward-looking consumers: Application to the US market for console video-games," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 5(3), pages 239-292, September.
    5. Robert Swinney, 2011. "Selling to Strategic Consumers When Product Value Is Uncertain: The Value of Matching Supply and Demand," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(10), pages 1737-1751, October.
    6. Shlomo Kalish, 1983. "Monopolist Pricing with Dynamic Demand and Production Cost," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(2), pages 135-159.
    7. Judith Chevalier & Austan Goolsbee, 2009. "Are Durable Goods Consumers Forward-Looking? Evidence from College Textbooks," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(4), pages 1853-1884.
    8. Nikolay Osadchiy & Gustavo Vulcano, 2010. "Selling with Binding Reservations in the Presence of Strategic Consumers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(12), pages 2173-2190, December.
    9. David Besanko & Wayne L. Winston, 1990. "Optimal Price Skimming by a Monopolist Facing Rational Consumers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(5), pages 555-567, May.
    10. Yossi Aviv & Amit Pazgal, 2008. "Optimal Pricing of Seasonal Products in the Presence of Forward-Looking Consumers," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 10(3), pages 339-359, December.
    11. Guillermo Gallego & S. G. Kou & Robert Phillips, 2008. "Revenue Management of Callable Products," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(3), pages 550-564, March.
    12. Lazear, Edward P, 1986. "Retail Pricing and Clearance Sales," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(1), pages 14-32, March.
    13. Rui Yin & Yossi Aviv & Amit Pazgal & Christopher S. Tang, 2009. "Optimal Markdown Pricing: Implications of Inventory Display Formats in the Presence of Strategic Customers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(8), pages 1391-1408, August.
    14. Xuanming Su & Fuqiang Zhang, 2008. "Strategic Customer Behavior, Commitment, and Supply Chain Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(10), pages 1759-1773, October.
    15. Yuri Levin & Jeff McGill & Mikhail Nediak, 2009. "Dynamic Pricing in the Presence of Strategic Consumers and Oligopolistic Competition," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(1), pages 32-46, January.
    16. Wedad Elmaghraby & P{i}nar Keskinocak, 2003. "Dynamic Pricing in the Presence of Inventory Considerations: Research Overview, Current Practices, and Future Directions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(10), pages 1287-1309, October.
    17. Gérard P. Cachon & Robert Swinney, 2009. "Purchasing, Pricing, and Quick Response in the Presence of Strategic Consumers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(3), pages 497-511, March.
    18. Youyi Feng & Guillermo Gallego, 1995. "Optimal Starting Times for End-of-Season Sales and Optimal Stopping Times for Promotional Fares," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(8), pages 1371-1391, August.
    19. Gabriel R. Bitran & Susana V. Mondschein, 1997. "Periodic Pricing of Seasonal Products in Retailing," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(1), pages 64-79, January.
    20. 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.
    21. Guoming Lai & Laurens G. Debo & Katia Sycara, 2010. "Buy Now and Match Later: Impact of Posterior Price Matching on Profit with Strategic Consumers," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 12(1), pages 33-55, December.
    22. Qian Liu & Garrett van Ryzin, 2011. "Strategic Capacity Rationing when Customers Learn," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 13(1), pages 89-107, September.
    23. Omar Besbes & Robert Phillips & Assaf Zeevi, 2010. "Testing the Validity of a Demand Model: An Operations Perspective," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 12(1), pages 162-183, June.
    24. Georgia Perakis & Guillaume Roels, 2010. "Robust Controls for Network Revenue Management," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 12(1), pages 56-76, November.
    25. 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.
    26. Inseong Song & Pradeep Chintagunta, 2003. "A Micromodel of New Product Adoption with Heterogeneous and Forward-Looking Consumers: Application to the Digital Camera Category," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 1(4), pages 371-407, December.
    27. Nancy L. Stokey, 1979. "Intertemporal Price Discrimination," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 93(3), pages 355-371.
    28. Michael O. Ball & Maurice Queyranne, 2009. "Toward Robust Revenue Management: Competitive Analysis of Online Booking," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 57(4), pages 950-963, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Yen-Ting Lin & Ali K. Parlaktürk & Jayashankar M. Swaminathan, 2018. "Are Strategic Customers Bad for a Supply Chain?," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 20(3), pages 481-497, July.
    2. Yossi Aviv & Mike Mingcheng Wei & Fuqiang Zhang, 2019. "Responsive Pricing of Fashion Products: The Effects of Demand Learning and Strategic Consumer Behavior," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(7), pages 2982-3000, July.
    3. Cuihong Li & Fuqiang Zhang, 2013. "Advance Demand Information, Price Discrimination, and Preorder Strategies," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 15(1), pages 57-71, September.
    4. Negin Golrezaei & Hamid Nazerzadeh & Ramandeep Randhawa, 2020. "Dynamic Pricing for Heterogeneous Time-Sensitive Customers," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 22(3), pages 562-581, May.
    5. Wu, Meng & Ran, Yun & Zhu, Stuart X., 2022. "Optimal pricing strategy: How to sell to strategic consumers?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    6. Vincent Mak & Amnon Rapoport & Eyran J. Gisches & Jiaojie Han, 2014. "Purchasing Scarce Products Under Dynamic Pricing: An Experimental Investigation," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 16(3), pages 425-438, July.
    7. Vincent Mak & Amnon Rapoport & Eyran J. Gisches, 2018. "Dynamic Pricing Decisions and Seller-Buyer Interactions under Capacity Constraints," Games, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-23, February.
    8. Christian Borgs & Ozan Candogan & Jennifer Chayes & Ilan Lobel & Hamid Nazerzadeh, 2014. "Optimal Multiperiod Pricing with Service Guarantees," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(7), pages 1792-1811, July.
    9. Dong, Junfeng & Wu, Desheng Dash, 2019. "Two-period pricing and quick response with strategic customers," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 165-173.
    10. Mohammed Al-Hitmi & Salman Ahmad & Atif Iqbal & Sanjeevikumar Padmanaban & Imtiaz Ashraf, 2018. "Selective Harmonic Elimination in a Wide Modulation Range Using Modified Newton–Raphson and Pattern Generation Methods for a Multilevel Inverter," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-16, February.
    11. René Caldentey & Ying Liu & Ilan Lobel, 2017. "Intertemporal Pricing Under Minimax Regret," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 65(1), pages 104-129, February.
    12. Ali K. Parlaktürk, 2012. "The Value of Product Variety When Selling to Strategic Consumers," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 14(3), pages 371-385, July.
    13. 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.
    14. Ye, Taofeng & Yang, Huiqiang, 2020. "Price and Quality Management with Strategic Consumers: Whether to Introduce a High or Low Product Variant," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 386(C).
    15. Qian Liu & Dan Zhang, 2013. "Dynamic Pricing Competition with Strategic Customers Under Vertical Product Differentiation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(1), pages 84-101, August.
    16. 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.
    17. Ken Moon & Kostas Bimpikis & Haim Mendelson, 2018. "Randomized Markdowns and Online Monitoring," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(3), pages 1271-1290, March.
    18. René Caldentey & Ying Liu & Ilan Lobel, 2017. "Intertemporal Pricing Under Minimax Regret," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 65(1), pages 104-129, February.
    19. Chang Hwan Lee & Tsan‐Ming Choi & T.C.E. Cheng, 2015. "Selling to strategic and loss‐averse consumers: Stocking, procurement, and product design policies," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 62(6), pages 435-453, September.
    20. Gonca P. Soysal & Lakshman Krishnamurthi, 2012. "Demand Dynamics in the Seasonal Goods Industry: An Empirical Analysis," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(2), pages 293-316, March.

    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:ormsom:v:14:y:2012:i:3:p:355-370. 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.