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Product Launches and Buying Frenzies: A Dynamic Perspective

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  • Courty, Pascal
  • Nasiry, Javad

Abstract

Buying frenzies in which a firm intentionally undersupplies a product during its initial launch phase are a common practice within several industries such as electronics (cell phones, video games, game consoles), luxury cars, and fashion goods. We develop a dynamic model of buying frenzies that captures the production and sales of a product over time by the firm and then characterize the conditions under which frenzies are an optimal policy for the firm. We show that buying frenzies occur when customers are sufficiently uncertain about their product valuations and when customers discount the future but not excessively. Further, we propose a measure of

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  • Courty, Pascal & Nasiry, Javad, 2013. "Product Launches and Buying Frenzies: A Dynamic Perspective," CEPR Discussion Papers 9462, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9462
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    Cited by:

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    2. Liu, Ting & Schiraldi, Pasquale, 2014. "Buying frenzies in durable-goods markets," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 1-16.
    3. Yiangos Papanastasiou, 2020. "Newsvendor Decisions with Two-Sided Learning," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(11), pages 5408-5426, November.
    4. Correia-da-Silva, João, 2021. "Optimal priority pricing by a durable goods monopolist," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 310-328.
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    6. Lusi Yang & Zhiyi Wang & Jungpil Hahn, 2020. "Scarcity Strategy in Crowdfunding: An Empirical Exploration of Reward Limits," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(4), pages 1107-1131, December.
    7. Alexander Salmen, 2021. "New Product Launch Success: A Literature Review," Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, Mendel University Press, vol. 69(1), pages 151-176.
    8. Kogan, Konstantin & Herbon, Avi, 2022. "Retailing under panic buying and consumer stockpiling: Can governmental intervention make a difference?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 254(C).
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    11. Kenan Arifoğlu & Sarang Deo & Seyed M. R. Iravani, 2020. "Markdowns in Seasonal Conspicuous Goods," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 39(5), pages 1016-1029, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Advance selling; Buying frenzy; Customer desperation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D4 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design
    • L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior

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