Advance selling through pre-orders is a strategy to transfer inventory risk from a retailer to consumers. A newsvendor retailer can have three strategies to choose from: no advance selling allowed (NAS), moderate advance selling with a moderate discount for pre-orders (MAS), and deep advance...

Blind boxes (also called mystery boxes, gift boxes, or opaque boxes) are relatively recent concepts by retailers such as Birchbox and Stichfix. The distinguishing feature of a blind box is that its content remains uncertain until the customer purchases the box and opens it. This paper examines a...