Title | ||
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Pricing Information Goods: A Strategic Analysis of the Selling and Pay-per-Use Mechanisms |
Abstract | ||
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AbstractWe analyze two pricing mechanisms for information goods. These mechanisms are selling, where up-front payment allows unrestricted use, and pay-per-use, where payments are tailored to use. We analytically model a market where consumers differ in use frequency and where use on a pay-per-use basis invokes a psychological cost associated with the well known "ticking meter" effect. We demonstrate that pay-per-use yields higher profits in a monopoly provided the associated psychological cost is low. In a duopoly, one firm uses selling and the other uses pay-per-use. Here, in contrast to the monopoly, selling yields higher profits than pay-per-use. We demonstrate that, surprisingly, the profits of both duopolists can increase as the psychological cost associated with pay-per-use increases. Next, we show that uncertainty in consumer use frequency does not affect pay-per-use in a monopoly, but lowers profits from selling. In a duopoly, both the seller and the pay-per-use provider obtain lower profits when use frequency is uncertain. We also analyze how pricing mechanism performance is affected if the firms cannot commit to prices, if the pay-per-use provider offers a two-part tariff, and if consumers are risk-averse. |
Year | DOI | Venue |
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2015 | 10.1287/mksc.2014.0894 | Periodicals |
Keywords | Field | DocType |
information goods,competitive strategy,pricing,digital marketing,game theory | Duopoly,Economics,Competitive advantage,Microeconomics,Tariff,Game theory,Information good,Monopoly,Payment,Marketing,Profit (economics) | Journal |
Volume | Issue | ISSN |
34 | 2 | 1526-548X |
Citations | PageRank | References |
8 | 0.52 | 16 |
Authors | ||
3 |
Name | Order | Citations | PageRank |
---|---|---|---|
Sridhar Balasubramanian | 1 | 8 | 0.52 |
Shantanu Bhattacharya | 2 | 15 | 1.34 |
V. Krishnan | 3 | 113 | 7.57 |