题 目:  From Ultimogeniture to Primogeniture: Women’s Fertility or Virginity?

时 间：2018年12月7日 （周五）10:00-11:30

地 点： 商学院武东路校区114

演 讲 者: Yan Liu, Assistant Professor, Tianjin University

摘 要: This paper investigates the effects of reward redemption hurdles in customer reward programs. Our research context is ``buy X, get one free'' (BXGO) reward programs, which incorporate two common redemption hurdles: a redemption threshold (X purchases are required for a free product) and an expiry policy (unused reward points are lost after T periods of inactivity). We consider consumer heterogeneity in valuations and purchase frequencies, and allow for ``transaction utility'' that consumers may derive from free products. Our analysis leads to the following results. First, both redemption hurdles create ``points pressure,'' such that an incremental purchase becomes more valuable as a consumer's reward points approach the redemption threshold or the expiration date. Second, a BXGO program can create a win-win for the seller (higher profit) and the consumers (higher aggregate consumer welfare), compared with not offering a reward program. Third, a BXGO program can be either more or less profitable than a cash reward program. Fourth, if consumers derive transaction utility for the rewarded product, a BXGO program can be viable even when reward points never expire, which rationalizes why many BXGO programs choose not to stipulate an expiration date. We discuss the managerial implications of our results.

演讲者简介: Yan Liu is currently an assistant professor of operations management in Tianjin University, China. He obtains his Ph.D from University of Minnesota in 2015 and his research interest lies in revenue management and pricing, interface between operations management and marketing, and social operations management. His work has been published in top journals, such as Management Science and Operations Research.