Start Date

10-12-2017 12:00 AM

Description

Research investigating the sales impacts of product sampling in e-commerce still lags. We attempt to answer: (1) How does the sampling of a product affect the sales of other products in the same store (i.e., in-store spillover effect)? (2) How does the sampling of a product affect the sales of the same product in other stores (i.e., cross-store spillover effect)? (3) How do the in-store and cross-store sales spillover effects vary across product types (i.e., search, experience and credence products)? Using data from a Chinese e-commerce platform, we employ panel-data model estimation techniques to find evidence of the sales spillovers of product sampling. Specifically, the sampling of a search (experience) product increases (decreases) the sales quantity of other products in the same store by 18.9% (9.4%). However, cross-store spillover effects only exist for experience products’ sampling, which increases the sales of the same product in another store by 16.5%.

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Dec 10th, 12:00 AM

Investigating the Sales Spillover Effects of Online Product Sampling in E-Commerce

Research investigating the sales impacts of product sampling in e-commerce still lags. We attempt to answer: (1) How does the sampling of a product affect the sales of other products in the same store (i.e., in-store spillover effect)? (2) How does the sampling of a product affect the sales of the same product in other stores (i.e., cross-store spillover effect)? (3) How do the in-store and cross-store sales spillover effects vary across product types (i.e., search, experience and credence products)? Using data from a Chinese e-commerce platform, we employ panel-data model estimation techniques to find evidence of the sales spillovers of product sampling. Specifically, the sampling of a search (experience) product increases (decreases) the sales quantity of other products in the same store by 18.9% (9.4%). However, cross-store spillover effects only exist for experience products’ sampling, which increases the sales of the same product in another store by 16.5%.