This paper analyzes the competitive role of retail shopping experience in markets with consumer search costs. We examine how a retailer's advantage in providing consumer shopping experience affects its equilibrium pricing and price advertising strategies. We find that if the consumer valuation...

This paper analyses firms' decisions to provide connectivity to their customers. We distinguish between intraconnectivity--the ability of one firm's customers to connect to each other--and interconnectivity--the ability of one firm's customers to connect with another firm's customers. The...

One of the characteristics of the fashion marketplace is the unpredictability and apparent randomness of fashion hits. Another one is the information asymmetry among consumers. In this paper, we consider fashion as a means consumers use to signal belonging to a higher social rank and propose an...

Buyer search costs for price are changing in many markets. Through a model of buyer and seller behavior, I consider the effects of changing search costs on prices both when product differentiation is fixed and when it is endogenously determined in equilibrium. If firms cannot change product...

This paper examines the interaction of information provision, product quality, and pricing decisions by competitive firms to explore the following question: in a competitive market where consumers face uncertainty about product quality and/or their preference for quality, which firms—those...

This paper shows that when the alternatives offered to consumers span the preference space (as it would be chosen by a firm), search or evaluation costs may lead consumers not to search and not to choose if too many or too few alternatives are offered. If too many alternatives are offered, then...

This paper explores whether and how a firm should adapt its strategy in view of consumer use of prior customer ratings. Specifically, we consider optimal pricing and whether the firm should offer an unexpected frill to early customers to enhance their product experiences. We show that if price...