文献类型：会议论文

英文题名：Offering Free Trials with Consumer Online Reviews

作者：Li Tian[1];Wang Xueying[1]

机构：[1]East China Univ Sci & Technol, Shanghai 200237, Peoples R China

会议论文集：2nd International Conference on Software and E-Business (ICSEB)

会议日期：DEC 18-20, 2018

会议地点：Zhuhai, PEOPLES R CHINA

语种：英文

外文关键词：Free trials; Consumer online reviews; Uncertainty of product value

摘要：A company sells a new product online through two stages. In the first stage, free trials are offered to consumers; in the second stage, products are sold at the regular selling price. Consumers are uncertain about the value of the product, while online reviews can help them reveal the product value. Consumers who have received the free trials are required to provide online reviews of the products which can help future consumers better understand the uncertain product value. The greater the number of consumer reviews, the more the future consumers' purchasing decisions rely on consumer reviews. The company offers free trials to induce consumer online reviews and to increase the expected future sales. However, offering too many free trials can exert significant cost for the company. We characterize the optimal number of free trials the company should offer in the first stage, as well as the optimal selling price in the second stage. We find that the company offers free trials when the product cost is below a threshold, and does not offer free trials otherwise. If the uncertainty of product value becomes larger, the firm should provide more free trials and its profit becomes lower.