Managing Consumer Returns in a Competitive Environment

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Shulman, Jeffrey D.; Coughlan, Anne T.; Savaskan, R. Canan
• 署名单位: University of Washington; University of Washington Seattle; Northwestern University; Southern Methodist University
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.1100.1274
• 发表日期: 2011
• 页码: 347-362
• 关键词: Marketing; channels of distribution; competitive strategy; pricing

摘要

This paper investigates the pricing and restocking fee decisions of two competing firms selling horizontally differentiated products. We model a duopoly facing consumers who have heterogeneous tastes for the products and who must experience a product before knowing how well it matches with their preferences. The analysis yields several key insights. Restocking fees not only can be sustained in a competitive environment, but also are more severe when consumers are less informed about product fit and when consumers place a greater importance on how well products' attributes fit with their preferences. We compare the competitive equilibrium prices to a scenario in which consumers are certain about their preferences and find conditions defining when consumer uncertainty results in higher equilibrium prices. Comparison to a monopoly setting yields a surprising result: Equilibrium restocking fees in a competitive environment can be higher than those charged by a monopolist.