Marketing Seminar（2016-17）

Title: Chasing Diamonds and Crowns: Consumer Limited Attention and Seller Response

Speaker: Zemin (Zachary) Zhong, UC Berkeley

Time: Wednesday, 16 November.13:30-15:00

Place: RoomK01, Guanghua Building 2

Abstract:

This study examines how sellers respond to consumer limited attention in online markets. Platforms assign sellers into different levels based solely on rating scores, but display both pieces of information simultaneously. I utilize this institutional feature to identify consumer limited attention using regression discontinuity on Taobao data. I find that one extra level increases sales significantly, implying consumers are limited attentive. More importantly, a dynamic pricing model predicts sellers respond to the bias by lowering their prices before the thresholds, and increasing prices afterward. The evidence from the data supports such predictions.

Introduction:

Zemin (Zachary) Zhong is a PhD candidate in marketing at the UC Berkeley. His research interests include Search Design, Online Platforms, Behavioral Economics andMarketing.

Your participation is warmly welcomed!