The unintended consequences of tinkering with online prices
A new paper by a team of researchers — including two faculty from Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis — shows the practice of dynamic pricing can generate unintended consequences by changing the behavior of customers.
Red/blue-state divide even exists in eBay trading
An Olin Business School analysis of more than 550 million items sold by individuals on eBay in 2015 and 2016 — transactions totaling $22.3 billion — signals that we’re more likely to buy goods from someone we perceive comes from a similar political persuasion.
Retailers ‘enthusiastic’ about holiday sales prospects; estimates of 5 to 7 percent growth
SneiderMost retailers are enthusiastic about sales prospects for the holiday season. Estimates for same store sales growth of five to seven percent are expected, according to Martin Sneider, a professor of retailing at the John M. Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis. “These forecasts are far more robust than the numbers posted last year. Estimates for price-driven stores like Wal-Mart and Costco are at the high end of analyst’s expectations,” Sneider says. Meanwhile, online holiday shopping is expected to grow by 20 to 40 percent, he says.