Paperlink
Abstract:
I document that firms in online marketplaces use price promotions to facilitate transitions to better review tiers (similar to the number of stars on Amazon.com). I find that firms close to going one tier up are 4-9% more likely to discount. I theorize that two effects could be at play. First, a selection effect arises because customers who buy during a discount could be different from the regular ones, and could potentially leave more positive reviews. Second, a variance effect reflects the idea that positive reviews could help the firm move up a review tier, while negative reviews would keep the tier unchanged, minimizing the downside risk of giving a discount. To test my hypotheses, I estimate a simple structural model of demand and reviewing behavior, and develop a new approach to estimating demand from data on product usage. I do not find evidence that the selection effect is positive. I find evidence of the importance of the variance effect: when the selection effect is controlled for, firms close to downgrading their review tier are 6% less likely to give a discount, consistent with preferring less variance. I also find that consumers are significantly more likely to leave reviews during a discount. Additional findings include estimates of the causal effect of reviews on sales and equilibrium discount elasticities in an important market not previously studied.
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Organizers: Daniel Waldinger (dw120@nyu.edu) and Sharon Traiberman (st1012@nyu.edu).