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... For e-commerce platforms that adopt the flash sale model, there are quite a few advantages. First, the combination of limited time and large discount features can trigger consumers' impulse buying [6], leading to more sales revenue. In addition, the limited time offer enables the merchants to better arrange the timing of goods production and deal with leftover stocks [6,7]. ...
... First, the combination of limited time and large discount features can trigger consumers' impulse buying [6], leading to more sales revenue. In addition, the limited time offer enables the merchants to better arrange the timing of goods production and deal with leftover stocks [6,7]. The unique features of deep discount and short time window indeed lead to a relatively niche market, that is, consumers who are price-sensitive yet value brands. ...
... Consumers can get excitement from the deals of flash sale and inform their friends about the sale, which solicit other consumers to visit and purchase over the platform [38]. Moreover, the model provides an effective inventory management tool to deal with overstock or niche products [6]. In particular, the model serves the purpose of salvaging excessive inventory on the premise of ensuring profit and not damaging brand image [2,3]. ...
Article
This study investigates the performance implications of participation in the strategic transformation of the e-commerce platform by using data from VIP.com, the largest flash sale e-commerce platform in China. By integrating online flagship stores with its existing flash sale, VIP.com has transformed from the flash sale model targeting a niche market to the mixed sale model serving the mass market. Using a PSM-DID approach, we find that participation in such strategic transformation boosted sales for merchants and also resulted in greater post-sales product returns for merchants selling seasonal products. Implications for theory and practice are discussed as well.
... In distribution channel terms, DDs are a novel form of heavily discounted (usually around 30% below the market value/OTA & Website rate) intermediaries selling distressed inventory to customers who previously agreed to become members of the channel (Berezina et al, 2016). Despite its only recent positioning as a distribution channel in the academia (Berezina et al, 2016;Runfola, Rosati, & Guercini, 2013), the DDs model had already established itself in the industry and among customers; presently, many informed travellers regularly consult it while purchasing their hotel stays. ...
... In distribution channel terms, DDs are a novel form of heavily discounted (usually around 30% below the market value/OTA & Website rate) intermediaries selling distressed inventory to customers who previously agreed to become members of the channel (Berezina et al, 2016). Despite its only recent positioning as a distribution channel in the academia (Berezina et al, 2016;Runfola, Rosati, & Guercini, 2013), the DDs model had already established itself in the industry and among customers; presently, many informed travellers regularly consult it while purchasing their hotel stays. As such, and in line with Pearce's (2008) needs-based model of tourism distribution, the DDs can support the implementation of revenue management and differential pricing strategies, while managing demand fluctuations. ...
... Diversifying the distribution mix is becoming crucial to achieve the timely and efficient distribution of hotel rooms. Therefore, revenue managers need to be familiar with a variety of distribution channels and multi-channel revenue management strategies (Berezina, Semrad, Stepchenkova, & Cobanoglu, 2016;Jiang, 2014). The three main types of online channels that are independent of previous advance allotment contracting and are thus flexible to being managed in real time are represented by the hotel website, the OTAs and the DDs (the last two being intermediaries). ...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
The technology disruption has developed a new way for customers to purchase takeaway food. Nowadays, takeaway food can be purchase through technology device such as smartphone and smart television. Although the traditional methods such as phone still used by the consumer, the usage of mobile apps to order foods is increasing. Therefore, this study aims to understand the growth of online takeaway food ordering sector and consumer acceptance by adopting a mixed method approach.
... The price is heavily discounted compared to the regular market price, occasionally even up to 90 %. (Piccoli & Dev, 2012;Parsons et al., 2014;Minor, 2017). In e-distribution channel terms, DD websites are considered a novel form of intermediaries selling distressed inventory to customers who previously agreed to become members of the channel (Berezina et al., 2016). Despite the DDs having only recently been regarded as distribution channels by the academia (Berezina et al., 2016), the DDs model has quickly established itself as a popular booking medium amongst the industry and the customers, with 34% of holidaymakers using DD websites to look for a cheaper holiday (Mintel, 2015). ...
... In e-distribution channel terms, DD websites are considered a novel form of intermediaries selling distressed inventory to customers who previously agreed to become members of the channel (Berezina et al., 2016). Despite the DDs having only recently been regarded as distribution channels by the academia (Berezina et al., 2016), the DDs model has quickly established itself as a popular booking medium amongst the industry and the customers, with 34% of holidaymakers using DD websites to look for a cheaper holiday (Mintel, 2015). Groupon alone recorded 46.5 million active subscribers in the first quarter of 2018, many of whom regularly consult the DD websites prior to purchasing hotel stays (Statista, 2018), while premium-orientated websites such as Secret Escapes established themselves as a go-to platform for last-minute luxury bargain hunters (Mintel, 2018). ...
... DDs are used as a desperate measure of hotels who cannot sell their product at full price (Piccoli & Dev, 2012;Starkov, 2011), often caused by an unattractive or far-off location (Minor, 2017), however UNWTO (2018) for fulfilling the hotels' capacities in low, off-season periods, in which these capacities are difficult to be sold at a full price (Berezina et al., 2016;Minor, 2017). Given the above findings mapped out against peak season sales, the opposite seems to be true. ...
Article
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Daily Deal (DD) websites have established themselves as an inventory distribution channel for hotels, yet they remain a largely under-explored topic in tourism. This paper seeks to provide insights into the nature of high-end DD websites through a data analysis of individual offers' attributes, obtained by a direct observation of three main hotel-focused DD websites and one review website. The preliminary analysis of the data reveals that specialised DDs are a marketplace for quality hotels that can be considered as a semi-permanent form of a distribution channel. The outcomes challenge the currently established literature by offering a novel perspective and a more in-depth understanding of DDs and their use by the hoteliers as a marketing tool and inventory distribution channel.
... In distribution channel terms, DDs are a novel form of heavily discounted (usually around 30% below the market value/OTA & Website rate) intermediaries selling distressed inventory to customers who previously agreed to become members of the channel (Berezina et al, 2016). Despite its only recent positioning as a distribution channel in the academia (Berezina et al, 2016;Runfola, Rosati, & Guercini, 2013), the DDs model had already established itself in the industry and among customers; presently, many informed travellers regularly consult it while purchasing their hotel stays. ...
... In distribution channel terms, DDs are a novel form of heavily discounted (usually around 30% below the market value/OTA & Website rate) intermediaries selling distressed inventory to customers who previously agreed to become members of the channel (Berezina et al, 2016). Despite its only recent positioning as a distribution channel in the academia (Berezina et al, 2016;Runfola, Rosati, & Guercini, 2013), the DDs model had already established itself in the industry and among customers; presently, many informed travellers regularly consult it while purchasing their hotel stays. As such, and in line with Pearce's (2008) needs-based model of tourism distribution, the DDs can support the implementation of revenue management and differential pricing strategies, while managing demand fluctuations. ...
... Diversifying the distribution mix is becoming crucial to achieve the timely and efficient distribution of hotel rooms. Therefore, revenue managers need to be familiar with a variety of distribution channels and multi-channel revenue management strategies (Berezina, Semrad, Stepchenkova, & Cobanoglu, 2016;Jiang, 2014). The three main types of online channels that are independent of previous advance allotment contracting and are thus flexible to being managed in real time are represented by the hotel website, the OTAs and the DDs (the last two being intermediaries). ...
... The limited extent of scholarly research specifically related to the relationship between restaurants and flash-sales creates a scenario in which it is impossible to measure all of the risks and rewards operators are faced with when electing to utilize a flash-sale. However, recent qualitative research findings, derived through a Grounded theory approach, identified numerous advantages and disadvantages of employing flash-sales in the hotel industry (Berezina, Semrad, Stepchenkova, & Cobanoglu, 2016). While there are distinct differences between restaurant and hotel operations, the findings from Berezina et al. (2016) are applicable as they provide keen insight into the managerial perceptions of flash-sales. ...
... However, recent qualitative research findings, derived through a Grounded theory approach, identified numerous advantages and disadvantages of employing flash-sales in the hotel industry (Berezina, Semrad, Stepchenkova, & Cobanoglu, 2016). While there are distinct differences between restaurant and hotel operations, the findings from Berezina et al. (2016) are applicable as they provide keen insight into the managerial perceptions of flash-sales. Key results related to the advantages of flash-sale incorporation revolved around employing such tactics when a justifiable need to drive up sales, thus managing revenue, was highlighted by the operators (Berezina et al., 2016). ...
... While there are distinct differences between restaurant and hotel operations, the findings from Berezina et al. (2016) are applicable as they provide keen insight into the managerial perceptions of flash-sales. Key results related to the advantages of flash-sale incorporation revolved around employing such tactics when a justifiable need to drive up sales, thus managing revenue, was highlighted by the operators (Berezina et al., 2016). These findings align with similar research on the relationship between hotels and flash-sales (Berezina & Semrad, 2015;. ...
Article
As restaurants are the primary hospitality business represented on flash-sale sites, this study examined motivations of restaurant managers when choosing whether to utilize the promotional mediums of flash-sales. Interviews were administered as a measurement instrument. Results demonstrated restaurants which have employed flash-sales are weary of the likelihood of success and believe the flash-sales brought in established customers. Non-users indicated hesitation towards adoption of flash-sales related to low profit margins per item in their operation and the percentage split of the sale price between the firm and flash-sale provider. Findings provide keen foundational insight into the flashsale phenomenon.
... Social couponing (labeled also as flash sales or daily deals) is a form of sales promotion that has enjoyed widespread popularity among hotels in the last few years (Berezina et al., 2016;Cassia et al., 2015;Minazzi, 2015;Piccoli and Dev, 2012). It consists of "an intermediary that manages a list of 1 subscribers through e-mail and social media, and offers merchants access in exchange for a commission, allowing them to promote their offerings at a steep discount" (Boon et al., 2015, p. 3). ...
... However, different from traditional coupons, social coupons not only have the potential to promote short-term sales, but may be also used by hotels to increase their brand awareness (Berezina et al., 2016). In fact, daily deal reach a number of subscribers which is much higher than the number of deal purchasers. ...
... From a theoretical perspective, the findings of this study will provide empirical evidence of the social effects of the daily deals, thus advancing available knowledge about social couponing in the hotel industry (Berezina et al., 2016;Cassia et al., 2015) and social commerce (Yadav et al., 2013). The results will also enrich available knowledge about eWOM management in the hospitality sector (Baka, 2016;Schuckert et al., 2015). ...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose of the paper: Social couponing campaigns are becoming increasingly popular among hotels. However, while their short-term impacts have been assessed, their medium and long-term benefits for the hotels' reputation have not been measured yet. The purpose of this study is to provide evidence of the potential of social couponing to stimulate positive electronic word‐of‐mouth (eWOM) and online referrals to hotels. In addition, this research intends to identify the factors related to the design and management of the couponing campaign, which influence the couponers' willingness to engage in positive eWOM and referrals. Methodology: The study is based on the content analysis of 564 TripAdvisor reviews posted by guests that have stayed at 76 Italian hotels using a Groupon's coupon. Both frequency and co-occurrence analysis are performed. Findings: The results show that social couponing stimulates intense positive eWOM and referrals. The analysis also highlights the most important coupon-related factors, which are able to influence the valence (positive vs. negative) of the eWOM. Research limits: The small sample of hotels, considered in this research and the specific features of the Italian hotel industry suggest caution in generalizing the results to other settings. Practical Implications: Hotel managers should design and manage their couponing campaigns carefully considering several factors, identified by this study, which directly stimulate positive eWOM. The findings of this research also suggest that hotel managers could use couponing campaigns as effective tools for their online reputation management strategies. Originality of the paper: This paper provides empirical evidence of the eWOM and referral effects of social couponing. Hence, it complements previous studies, which have mostly considered the short-term effects of social couponing related to sales increase.
... For example, a hotel may have a coupon campaign with breakfast included in the room rate. If the hotel has limited capacity to serve the guests breakfast, a high number of coupons may result in failure of delivering the demanded number of breakfasts (Berezina et al., 2016). Hence, if the buyer perceives that the number of coupons is not imposed by the daily deal website but is the result of negotiations, this will likely increase the level of perceived procedural fairness, which in turn will improve satisfaction. ...
... The focus of this study is on the inter-organizational relationships between firms buying couponing campaigns and the websites supplying them. Past studies in this industry highlight that a well-functioning relationship between the firm and the daily deal platform provider is pivotal for the success of social couponing campaigns (Berezina et al., 2016;Cassia et al., 2015). When proper cooperation between the firm and the platform is lacking, issues such as, for example, inaccurate or misleading description of what is included in the deal can arise, which may cause customer disappointment, even if neither the firm nor the daily deal website can be considered entirely at fault (Cox, 2015). ...
Article
Purpose While studies about business-to-business (B2B) relationships have mainly addressed buyer–supplier long-term exchanges, focusing on social outcomes such as trust, commitment and cooperation, there is little research that explores the social outcomes which stem from short-term B2B transactions. The purpose of this paper is to explain buyers’ intention to renew a contract after discrete and time-delimited transactions by suggesting a model that complements social exchange theory with theories of fairness. In detail, this study aims to determine how evaluations of economic and social outcomes are complemented by both procedural fairness and distributive fairness. Design/methodology/approach The hypotheses are tested in the social couponing industry with a survey of a sample of 199 firms purchasing advertising services from daily deal websites. Data are analyzed using covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM). Findings The findings reveal direct effects of procedural fairness on social outcomes (satisfaction) and distributive fairness on the intention to renew a contract, negative moderating effect of procedural fairness on the relationship between economic outcomes (campaign effectiveness) and social outcomes (satisfaction). Research limitations/implications In discrete, time-delimited transactions, high levels of procedural fairness may partially compensate for low levels of economic outcomes and prevent a reduction in social outcomes. Hence, when economic outcomes are influenced largely by external, uncontrollable conditions, the buyer seems to appreciate the supplier’s efforts to behave fairly. Practical implications Social outcomes matter even in discrete transactions and considerations of fairness should be integrated in the management of discrete transactions. Sharing economic outcomes fairly is not sufficient to secure the buyer’s intention to renew the contract. Originality/value This study proposes and tests a model that complements social exchange theory with theories of fairness and explains contract renewal in discrete, time-delimited transactions, encompassing both economic outcomes and social outcomes.
... These are often also referred to as social shopping or group buying marketplaces and combine attractive discount for customers who propagate their offer using their social media channels. Though daily deal websites represent an interesting and multi-faceted e-commerce phenomenon, their nature within hospitality inventory distribution landscape (Berezina et al., 2016) remains largely unknown, even more, so their implications, particularly for the hotel industry. This chapter sets to fill this gap by collecting and structuring the available knowledge about daily deal websites, whilst paying particular attention to motivators behind daily deal use, profitability-related issues, marketing implications, operational issues, and impacts of the websites upon hospitality branding. ...
... A new offer is introduced to the main page of the website on a daily basis (Lo et al., 2014;Sigala, 2013;Subramanian, 2012). Although initially, the general perception was that the websites are used mainly as a one-off promotions, more increasingly especially the niche daily deal websites who also tend to feature the deals a bit longer -from FACTORS CONSIDERED PRIOR ENGAGEMENT 7 to 14 days, are becoming a permanent feature of hospitality distribution channels (Berezina et al., 2016;Minor, 2017;Tomat et al., 2019). The businesses utilise an array of different websites, from local to global either targeted niche website, e.g. ...
Book
Digital Marketing Strategies for Tourism, Hospitality, and Airline Industries provides innovative insights into how digital marketing can influence the consumer relationship at every stage of the tourism process and features emerging tools and techniques to establish better connections with consumers. The content within this publication examines topics such as branding strategies, social media, and influencer marketing for maximum content exposure. This information is designed for marketing managers, executives, event planners, tour developers, hotel managers, airline managers, program directors, advertisers, restaurateurs, students, business professionals, and researchers.
... These are often also referred to as social shopping or group buying marketplaces and combine attractive discount for customers who propagate their offer using their social media channels. Though daily deal websites represent an interesting and multi-faceted e-commerce phenomenon, their nature within hospitality inventory distribution landscape (Berezina et al., 2016) remains largely unknown, even more, so their implications, particularly for the hotel industry. This chapter sets to fill this gap by collecting and structuring the available knowledge about daily deal websites, whilst paying particular attention to motivators behind daily deal use, profitability-related issues, marketing implications, operational issues, and impacts of the websites upon hospitality branding. ...
... A new offer is introduced to the main page of the website on a daily basis (Lo et al., 2014;Sigala, 2013;Subramanian, 2012). Although initially, the general perception was that the websites are used mainly as a one-off promotions, more increasingly especially the niche daily deal websites who also tend to feature the deals a bit long -for 7 to 14 days, are becoming a permanent feature of hospitality distribution channels (Berezina et al., 2016;Minor, 2017;Tomat et al., 2019). The businesses utilise an array of different websites, from local to global either targeted niche website, e.g. ...
Chapter
Discounting, a common practice in the hotel industry, used in order to mitigate seasonal demand fluctuation, was especially prominent at the time of the most recent recession. This coupled with consumer saving trends gave rise to the phenomenon of daily deal or flash sale websites. These are often also referred to as social shopping or group buying marketplaces and combine attractive discount for customers who propagate their offer using their social media channels. Though daily deal websites represent an interesting and multi-faceted e-commerce phenomenon, their nature within hospitality inventory distribution landscape remains largely unknown, even more so, their implications, particularly for the hotel industry. This chapter sets to fill this gap by collecting and structuring the available knowledge about daily deal websites according to the following themes: motivators for their use, profitability related issues, marketing implications, operational issues, impacts upon branding.
... Specifically looking at the accommodation market, other strategies besides last-minute deals have been used based on the trade-off between prices and timing. Those techniques are flash sales (or daily deals), private sales or online coupons (Berezina et al. 2016). Timing is gaining more and more importance as online booking activities increase, as the Internet reduces the information gap between accommodation providers and travelers. ...
... Advance selling is the other side of the last-minute coin: it refers to the purchasing of the services in advance of the consumption period and the requirement is the uncertainty about the availability and future value of the product or services. For the buyer, besides the reduction level of uncertainty, he/she expects some benefit from this advance purchase (Berezina et al. 2016). ...
Article
Full-text available
“Last-minute” deals in travel and tourism services are very appealing not only to travellers but also for service providers. Timing and price are central to an optimization strategy for last-minute deals for both sides. This study analyses last-minute timing behaviour for self-catering customers and proposes to the supplier an estimation of the critical last-minute momentum (LMM) that is, the optimal moment for launching these kinds of deals. The data emanates from the largest self-catering accommodation booking platform in the Romand Valais in Switzerland, containing more than 154,000 transactions. The study focuses on the domestic market, that is the largest market of the platform consisting of more than 90,000 transactions. The results show that LMM estimation accuracy increases when the party composition is considered even though improvements are not homogeneous across seasons. For practitioners, the results clarify the timing optimization of last-minute campaigns. For scholars, the results demonstrate that last-minute behavior challenges traditional paradigms of the planning vacation process (PVP). This is an extended version of a conference paper entitled “When last-minute is really last minute” previously published in the proceedings of the Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2018: Proceedings of the International Conference (ENTER 2018) held in Jönköping, Sweden, January 24–26
... Advance selling is the other side of the last-minute coin: it refers to the purchasing of the services in advance of the consumption period and the requirement is the uncertainty about the availability and future value of the product or services. For the buyer, besides the reduction level of uncertainty, he/she expects some benefit from this advance purchase (Berezina, Semrad, Stepchenkova, & Cobanoglu, 2016). ...
... Specifically looking at the accommodation market, other strategies besides lastminute deals have been used based on the trade-off between prices and timing. Those techniques are flash sales (or daily deals), private sales or online coupons (Berezina et al., 2016). Timing is gaining more and more importance as online booking activities increase, as the Internet reduces the information gap between hotels and travellers allowing the travellers the opportunity to continue researching data up to the time when they perceive the best deal to be made (Chen & Schwartz, 2008;Song et al., 2017;Webb, 2016). ...
... These unique features of flash sales promotions may make flash sales appealing to a consumer segment that is different from those consumers who respond to traditional sales promotions (e.g., coupons, in-store promotions, etc.). For example, Berezina et al. (2016) found that hotel managers seem to assume that flash sales consumers may possess some discerning psychographic traits such as deal-seeking, and would not return to the property unless they were offered another promotion. Thus making flash sales consumers a seemingly less desirable market to that of other types of consumers based on these psychographic traits. ...
... This trait may mean that hotel flash sales consumers are in search of the lowest priced hotel rooms. If this is the case, then managers may question the value of flash sales consumers as a profitable market segment to attract (Berezina and Semrad, 2015;Berezina et al., 2016). More frequently than not, price consciousness as a personality trait may be associated with a financially constrained consumer. ...
Article
Although flash sales are currently a ubiquitous phenomenon in consumption of many products, including tourism and hospitality products and services, there is a lack of empirical evidence that identifies the types of consumer profiles purchasing flash sales deals. In an effort to fill this void, a total of 358 participants were surveyed to define those personality traits that contribute to the use of hotel flash sales. The study presents a first attempt to empirically assess the psychographic profile of hotel flash sales consumers, and provides important managerial implications based on those profiles. Results reveal that hotel flash sales consumers were more likely to be quality conscious, variety-seekers, and market mavens when compared to other consumers. In addition, and contrary to hotel managers’ assumptions that flash sales consumers are price conscious, no profile difference was observed between these and other consumers.
... Flash sales fall into this good category in the frequency distribution table based on room night and room revenue because flash sale promotions are prioritized when the demand season is low. In line with statements made by Berezina and Semrad (2016), flash sales may present a valuable channel to address the problem of unsold inventory during low demand. ...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose: This research aimed to describe the implementation of flash sale promotions and the contribution of flash sales to room occupancy and room revenue at The Royal Beach Seminyak Bali (TRBS). Research methods: The research uses interviews, observation, and documentation studies on the number of room nights per month data and room revenue from flash sales data for the last three years. The data analysis technique used is descriptive statistics processed with Microsoft Excel 2013. Results and discussion: Form of the implementation of the flash sale starts with a communication plan in the form of promotions that are carried out using several platforms such as websites, mobile applications, and social media. During the execution of the flash sale, the discounted price is adjusted to the guest who is an AccorHotels member and not an AccorHotels member. Implication: Implementing the flash sale promotion was quite helpful in increasing room occupancy and room revenue by contributing the third largest reservation with an average donation of 20% for room occupancy and 18% for room revenue over the last three years. Keywords: hotel, flash sale promotion, room occupancy, room revenue.
... Few studies with a customer-centric focus have addressed DDs, yet their managerial usage perspective (e.g. [4]) is lacking. Further, the research so far has failed to answer why hotels adopt and more importantly use DDs. ...
Chapter
Full-text available
This paper analyses the usage of Daily Deals (DDs) in the COVID-19 pandemic context. A constructivist approach and grounded theory methodology are applied to study the managerial DDs usage in Slovenian hotels. The results show a predominance of organisational and external environmental factors, such as government regulation, linking structures, and industry characteristics, on the usage of DDs. These are shown in a conceptual DDs usage model. The study contributes to the hotel digital marketing literature by merging the two leading technology adoption frameworks to explain the formation of attitude and usage of DDs in a specific pandemic context.
... Flash sale is an e-marketplace model that provides discounts or special discounts on products offered within a certain time limit (Kukar-Kinney et al., 2016; Zhang et al., 2018) and is an interesting form of new distribution channel. The period of use of the FS is limited only to the period of "need" (Berezina et al., 2016). This limited execution of FS strategy aims to induce a sense of urgency and, therefore, trigger impulse buying (IB) (Chan et al., 2017). ...
Article
Full-text available
Flash sale (FS) is a marketing strategy that is widely used and developed in sales through e-commerce. The implementation of the FS strategy is to provide discounts or special propositions on products offered within a certain time limit. Time restrictions aim to encourage consumers' emotions to make impulse buying (IB). This study examines the effect of consumer emotions as a mediating variable on IB among Shoppee consumers in Indonesia caused by FS activities that are not carried out on certain important days. The required data were collected through the distribution of online questionnaires to respondents who, in the last three months, had made transactions through Shoppee e-commerce platform. A total of 150 questionnaires are analyzed using PLS-SEM. The results of the analysis show that the flash sale strategy carried out by the Shoppee e-commerce platform in Indonesia has a direct effect on increasing consumer emotions. This means that the higher the intensity of the FS promotion, the stronger the influence on consumer emotions. Emotions increase IB. FS has no significant effect on increasing IB. Subsequent findings show that FS indirectly has a positive and significant effect on IB through emotions. In other words, this study proves that the emotions are a mediating variable in online IB. This study is helpful for companies in developing appropriate strategies for their promotions in utilizing consumers' impulse buying behavior by using strategies that trigger consumers' emotions. Martaleni Martaleni (Indonesia), Ferdian Hendrasto (Indonesia), Noor Hidayat (Indonesia), Amin Alfandy Dzikri (Indonesia), Ni Nyoman Kerti Yasa (Indonesia) Flash sale and online impulse buying: Mediation effect of emotions
... It has been shown that flash sales can quickly unload excessive inventories and raise brand awareness. There are several theories behind this effectiveness (Berezina et al., 2016;Edelman et al., 2016), and one of them states that consumers enter the market over time and choose the timing of their purchases, therefore correctly timed temporary deal can be very effective in generating sales (Dilmé & Li, 2018). It was found previously that running a successful temporary deal campaign will involve several considerations, including choosing the right product to offer, promoting ahead of time, and using the right word for campaign descriptions (Dholakia, 2011). ...
Article
Full-text available
Temporary deals such as flash sales nowadays are popular strategies in retail business for cleaning out excessive inventories. It is known that the success of a temporary deal is related to product quality, promotion, and discount rates. In this paper, we look at another more obscure factor, that is the timing in the market, and we argue that such timing can be learned from social media. For example, the trending of words “summer” and “ice cream” in social media may indicate successful sales of air conditioners. We propose an approach to detect emerging words in social media as timing signals, and associate them with successful temporary deals. More specifically, the words that tend to emerge just before successful deals are considered as effective timing signals. We obtain a real-world temporary deal dataset from an industry partner and collect a social media datasets from Twitter for experiments. With experimental evaluation, we show and discuss the discovered timing signals. Furthermore, we propose a prediction framework and show that using social media timing signals can achieve better accuracy for predicting temporary deal success, comparing to internal deal information.
... Az árgarancia problémája ma már nem pusztán gazdasági kérdés, hanem komoly jogi viták tárgya is. A szabályozás fenntartása mellett érvelők véleménye szerint a minden értékesítési csatornára kiterjedő árgarancia segít fenntartani a fogyasztókban az ár igazságosságának érzetét, valamint a hotelek számára segíthet brandjük értékének fenntartásában (Choi-Matilla, 2009;Le et al., 2018), mivel az OTA-k és más közvetítők felületén megjelenő alacsonyabb árak képesek a brand devalvációját eredményezni (Berezina et al., 2016). A szabályozást kritizálók legtöbbször arra hivatkoznak, hogy az árgarancia csökkenti az iparágban a versenyt és ezáltal magasabb árakat eredményez, valamint megakadályozza a hoteleket abban, hogy szabadon alakítsák árstratégiájukat az összes értékesítési csatornán keresztül, aminek következtében csökken a szűkebb fogyasztói csoportokra irányuló, fókuszáltabb stratégiák lehetősége is (Law et al., 2007;Mohammed et al., 2017). ...
Article
Jelen munkámban a szállodaipar működését alapjaiban megváltoztató folyamatokkal, így a dinamikus árazással, a hozammenedzsmenttel és az ároptimalizációval foglalkozom. Ezen folyamatok az utóbbi évek során komoly hatást gyakoroltak a szállodák működésére. A hotelek célja az utóbbi években, hogy megfelelő szegmentáció segítségével minden vendég, minden vevő számára ideális ajánlatot tudjanak nyújtani, növelve ezzel a fogyasztók lojalitását, márkahűségét, visszatérési hajlandóságát. A hozammenedzsment rendszerek alkalmazását ma már a hotelek minden részlegére ki kell terjeszteni annak érdekében, hogy az esetlegesen kisebb nyereséget hajtó részlegek más osztályok felé irányítsák a vendégeket, így növelve a teljes tartózkodás során elért haszon teljes mennyiségét. A teljes hotelszektor működésére is kihat ugyanakkor az online utazásszervezők megjelenése, akik a korábbi utazási irodáktól teljesen eltérő szemlélettel szervezik útjaikat, támaszkodva ennek során azokra a nagy online minősítő rendszerekre, amelyek a magánfelhasználók fogyasztói döntéseire is komoly hatással vannak.
... Flecha Barrio et al. (2016) exploreed them and presents and analyses the link between and dependence of hotel companies with stakeholders and distribution channel mediators. On the other hand, within the context of organisational and pricing distribution channel innovations, Berezina et al. (2016) identified flash sale offers as a momentary, dynamic and extremely efficient tool of short-term offers and placement. Innovative price diversification, commission policy and their impact on profitability are the topics presented by Ling et al. (2014) within the context of consideration of hotel business financial indicators ADR and RevPAR. ...
... Smartphones, which support a wide range of travel information services that can be accessed anytime from anywhere, foster a culture of information exchange (Wang et al., 2012). They are considered new distribution channels (Berezina et al., 2016) that significantly influence destination visibility by enhancing information accessibility. Due to embedded technologies, they help "digital tourists" (Bodker, 2016) to navigate and explore various sites, for example, by using GPS as "the primary tool of wayfinding" (Chang, 2015;Chua et al., 2016). ...
Article
Purpose This paper aims to analyse the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in establishing destination appeal and reflect on the implications for smart tourism destination development. The focus is on identifying and analysing technological solutions by considering six elements shaping tourism destination appeal, namely, attractions, public and private amenities, accessibility, human resources, image and character and price. Design/methodology/approach To deliver public and private sector implications, the authors have reviewed and analysed relevant papers that were published in hospitality and tourism journals (42 Q1 and Q2 ranked journals based on SCImago Journal Rank) between 2010 and 2018. Findings ICTs affect the marketing and management of tourism destinations. They foster their innovativeness (e.g. interpretation of destination factors, new travel trends, innovative products, VA and AR), contribute sustainability (e.g. visitor management and reducing the use of resources) and improve accessibility (e.g. information provision, navigation, availability of sites and travel planning). The adaptation of technological solutions in the hospitality industry can be related to increased productivity, profitability and quality of services. Additionally, ICTs facilitate visitor decision-making (e.g. online distribution channels and information accessibility), influence overall travel experience and enable the sharing of visitors’ impressions. Research limitations/implications The significant limitations of this study include restrictions on the timing of publication and on journal selection. Originality/value This paper reviews full-length research papers that were published in relevant tourism and hospitality journals. This paper complements the current literature by addressing the role of ICTs in establishing destination appeal and reflecting on implications for smart destination development and future research.
... Na podobni tehnološki naravnanosti, kot jo je moč opaziti pri STA, temelji tudi novejši pojav SBP (angl. Daily Deals ali Flash Deals), ki se je pojavil kot odziv na zadnjo ekonomsko krizo (Berezina, Semrad, Stepchenkova, & Cobanoglu, 2016). Model se je obnesel ter transformiral in tako danes obstaja že veliko specializiranih ponudnikov, kot so Secret Escapes, Voyage Prive in Very Chic, ki v svoji prodajni paleti ponujajo izključno prodajo hotelskih namestitev in potovanj. ...
Article
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Povzetek Spletne bliskovite ponudbe (SBP) so se uveljavile kot eden izmed popularnih distribucijskih kanalov za trženje hotelskih storitev, a literatura še ne ponuja enotnega vpogleda v njihovo dejansko uporabnost in temeljne značilnosti. Za preučevanje značilnosti in vzorcev uporabe SBP s strani hotelov smo v pričujoči raziskavi uporabili analitiko masovnih podatkov, s katero smo povezali podatke izbranih ponudnikov SBP z aktualno teorijo na področjih trženja, turizma in podatkovne analitike in prepoznali nekatere vzorce v uporabi SBP med hoteli. V prispevku smo pokazali, da se uporaba SPB med hoteli razlikuje in nakazali, da SBP kot distribucijski kanal prodaje hotelskih storitev oblikuje povpraševanje in ne ponudba. Ključne besede: Spletne bliskovite ponudbe, analitika masovnih podatkov, hotelske storitve, Sredozemlje, distribucijski kanal
... For instance, rate parity agreements with OTAs help hotels in maintaining the value of their brand. As price is a fundamental marketing tool that conveys information about the product and service, a heavy discount could give the impression of low quality with the concomitant devaluation of the brand (Garrow et al., 2006), becoming an issue of major concern to branded properties (Berezina, Semrad, Stepchenkova & Cobanoglu, 2016;Le, Pearce & Smith, 2018). Accordingly, with rate parity agreements, hotels can better control the level of prices in the distribution system with the corresponding assurance of quality (Hayes & Miller, 2011). ...
Article
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Considering the heated debate in the hotel industry about the rate parity clause and the appropriateness of its ban to give rise to rate disparity, this article analyzes the hotel performance that has resulted from the rate parity prohibition established in some European countries, by looking into the market value of the hotels involved. The empirical analysis conducted on a sample of hotel companies trading on the stock exchange in Germany and France shows that the approval of the rate parity ban generates positive abnormal returns. However, an increase in risk is detected. It seems that, while the prospects of greater autonomy to set prices in the hotel industry and stronger competition in the online distribution industry are looked at positively, the hotels will have to deal with a customer's potential higher perception of price unfairness, less control over its own brand and a greater likelihood of price wars.
... Among such intermediaries, Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) play a crucial role in the hotel distribution. The recent economic crisis, coupled with the rise of social media has generated the interesting phenomenon of Daily Deals (DDs), which has quickly established itself as a discounted distribution channel among customers and hoteliers (Berezina, Semrad, Stepchenkova, & Cobanoglu, 2016). Despite this, the research relating to the impact, the use and the nature of the DDs is extremely limited, often marketing-oriented, anecdotal and in need of further theoretical and empirical elaboration (Sigala, 2013). ...
Conference Paper
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The globalization of tourist markets has recently increased the importance of foreign demand for most of European destinations. Besides being world top ranked tourism destinations, countries such as Spain and Italy are the most internationally exposed in Europe, since their foreign demand accounts for almost 50% of total hotel arrivals. As international markets get used to global brands in leisure experience-based services, hotel chains penetration grows at a stronger pace. Hotel chains have been long investigated by researchers from several perspectives and especially focusing on financial performance. No research has indeed verified the alleged ability of chains to attract foreign demand, while this information is strongly required by hotel investors and owners to evaluate affiliation opportunities. Indeed, in the current competitive environment, international visibility is a key lever to overcome the weak growth rate of domestic demand: affiliation to a brand could boost demand for a hotel, in such cases where it is proven that it contributes to higher international sales performance. The research focused on the evaluation of the alleged ability of chain affiliated hotels to perform better on international markets than independent (unbranded) hotels, by analysing arrivals from foreign markets and their provenance, together with the business models associated with the chain. Based on a 5 year proprietary census and on a survey of 148 observations (32% of chain hotels population in 21 destinations) for Italy, it was then demonstrated that chain hotels perform significantly better than independent hotels for attracting foreign demand. In particular, this appears true for all the investigated categories (3, 4 and 5 stars). When considering the FmPAR (a new metric for benchmarking hotels ability to sell abroad, first introduced by this research), which tells the absolute value of foreign demand per each room supplied, branded hotels reported an average of 125, compared to 77 of the destination average in the 3 star scale, and 122 against 83 in the 4 star scale, this evidence highlighting the different ability of branded hotels to be globally more visible than independent. . Among the several business models, franchising and management contract demonstrated to be attached to higher performance. Based on the case of Italy, managerial implications of this research for hotel investors, hotel owners and managers are straightforward: branding is, in general, associated with the opportunity of outperforming the destination on foreign demand attractiveness.
... Among such intermediaries, Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) play a crucial role in the hotel distribution. The recent economic crisis, coupled with the rise of social media has generated the interesting phenomenon of Daily Deals (DDs), which has quickly established itself as a discounted distribution channel among customers and hoteliers (Berezina, Semrad, Stepchenkova, & Cobanoglu, 2016). Despite this, the research relating to the impact, the use and the nature of the DDs is extremely limited, often marketing-oriented, anecdotal and in need of further theoretical and empirical elaboration (Sigala, 2013). ...
Conference Paper
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As information technology progresses, Internet-enabled hotel distribution channels are replacing the traditional ones. Among such intermediaries, Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) play a crucial role in the hotel distribution. The recent economic crisis, coupled with the rise of social media has generated the interesting phenomenon of Daily Deals (DDs), which has quickly established itself as a discounted distribution channel among customers and hoteliers (Berezina, Semrad, Stepchenkova, & Cobanoglu, 2016). Despite this, the research relating to the impact, the use and the nature of the DDs is extremely limited, often marketing-oriented, anecdotal and in need of further theoretical and empirical elaboration (Sigala, 2013). This paper seeks to fill this gap by looking at the hotel industry as a whole, as opposed to the majority of related studies that either use customers, or a single hotel as a unit of analysis. It aims to inform about the various functions that DDs assume in tourism distribution from the perspectives of tourism economics and strategic management, using the well-established SCP paradigm as a framework of operationalisation. The applied SCP framework guides us in a systematic review of the available DDs literature, which we enrich with critically assessed industry insights and conclude by logically structuring the findings along the SCP framework. By such means, we obtain an enhanced and holistic understanding of DDs and their potential impacts on both the market of electronic distribution – where we specifically focus on assessing their potential to threaten the oligopolistic position of the OTAs among the intermediaries – and the general performance of the hotel industry, which we treat under the common umbrella of e-hotel industry. Within the paper we discuss the nature of DDs and their functions, as well as assessing their impacts on hotels' and other intermediaries' conduct and performance. Furthermore, we explore all potential DDs'effects on the intermediation and future hotel industry. Finally, we present our findings in a form of a comprehensive model construct of SCP, customized to the nature of DDs' impacts on the e-hotel industry, as well as propose a future DDs research agenda.
... For example, Enz, Canina and Lomanno [1,2] report decreased revenue per available room (RevPAR), Chan and Wong [3] report increased competition and deterioration of hotel status when room rates are discounted, Croes [4,5] claim discounting is an effective short-term pricing strategy, and Semrad [6] advocates for discounting as a means to sustain markets in low seasons. Berezina et al. [7][8][9] conducted additional research pertaining to the use of flash sales websites offering discounted rooms. These studies suggest that travelers that search for discounted rates via flash sales websites spend more in hotels, are just as likely to recommend the hotel if satisfied, and are not more price sensitive than those customers that do not use flash sales to buy hotel rooms. ...
Article
Although discounting hotel room rates to boost occupancy is one of the most popular forms of promotions used in the lodging industry, there is debate in lodging literature regarding the effectiveness of this pricing strategy. Most of the studies that reflect upon the effectiveness of discounting use descriptive statistical methods to form pricing recommendations and conclusions. However, these descriptive studies may err in providing an understanding of whether discounting works in the lodging industry. The current study analyzes the empirical effects of the non-stationarity demand of seasonal hotel room rate discounting on hotel financial performance as supported by the principles of the rational expectations theory. The study uses a series of unit root tests to determine the time series data properties and then proceeds to a co integration analysis. The study may be useful to both academics and practitioners as the results provide evidence that discounting is an effective short-term pricing strategy in the lodging industry. Additionally, the study contributes to advancing the considerable literature regarding the use of discounting as a pricing strategy in the lodging industry.
... yet there is little guidance on the efficacy of such strategies. As shown in a recent qualitative study, many luxury hoteliers are concerned that online discount pricing might attract incompatible customer groups (Berezina et al. 2013). The current study reveals that high-and low-NFS consumers react differently to such luxury hotel price promotions. ...
Article
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As an emerging distribution channel, online discount websites are gaining popularity among luxury hotels. However, little guidance on the effectiveness of such price promotions in luxury hotels is provided in the extant literature. Building on the status consumption theories, we examine the joint effects of price promotions and need for status (NFS) on consumers’ attitudes toward the hotel as well as their intentions to return. Our results indicate that consumers who are high in NFS exhibit less favorable attitudes toward the luxury hotel and a lower likelihood to return on having learned that the hotel plans to implement price promotions through discount websites. On the contrary, customers who are low in NFS are unaffected by the presence of price promotions via discount websites. Therefore, luxury hotels that traditionally attract consumers high in NFS need to be aware that using price promotions via discount websites might have a detrimental effect on consumers’ perceptions of the hotel.
Article
Flash sales are a widely adopted e-commerce marketing strategy that operate over a brief period, offering limited-time discounts, special promotions, or clearance items to create a sense of urgency and promote rapid sales. This study proposes panoramic sales insight (PSI), a multimodal revenue forecasting framework designed to improve the accuracy of revenue predictions for flash sales. Using historical flash sales data from the fast fashion retailer Shein, the proposed PSI framework integrates both structured and unstructured data, utilizing a text–image fusion module to fuse features from product images and text descriptions and a deep neural network to forecast revenue. The text features are extracted using bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT), the product image features are extracted using a vision transformer (ViT), and review keyword extraction is conducted using Fumeus. Multimodal fusion then integrates these features to deliver accurate revenue forecasting. Controlled experiments evaluate the performance of each module within the PSI framework, while ablation analysis confirms the robustness of PSI. This study provides valuable insights for managers, enabling more accurate revenue forecasting and improving the effectiveness of flash sales.
Article
Daily deals platforms (DDPs) are perceived as an attractive means for hospitality merchants to acquire and retain new customers and generate ancillary revenues. However, these potential benefits come at the cost of steeply discounted prices and high commissions. How could hospitality merchants decide if working with DDPs is beneficial to their firm’s financial performance? This longitudinal study aims to investigate the impact of DDP on merchants’ performance by comparing DDP and non-DDP customers on key performance indicators, analyzing the benefit of product bundling, and potential cannibalization effects. The results show that DDP guests contributed lower revenues, had shorter lengths of stays, longer lead times, lower retention, and less positive reviews than their non-DDP counterparts. In deciding to work with DDPs, hoteliers must consider the opportunity cost of their choice because the expected vital benefits are more likely to be attained by non-DDP customers. Unexpectedly, DDP and non-DDP guests do not switch channels, and cannibalization is negligible. At the macro level, channel migration indicates that DDPs have contributed more bookings over the study period and become a more important channel in the channel mix.
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Technology enables actor-to-actor experience co-creation leading to value creation for the parties involved in the process. This research presents the initial impact of a mobile application developed to foster technology enabled relationship in rural Lebanon. Results indicate that technology has the potential to positively impact both host and guest fostering relationships building in all the trip stages and leading to socio-economic development and transformative experiences. In fact, the paper shows that relationships created and strengthened with the support of technology are expected to have effects at personal, community and business level.
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The daily stress we, as population, are subjected has negative impacts on physical and mental health, making people age faster. With the increase in life expectancy, the population started to search for ways to ensure they reach the older ages with a healthier and better lifestyle, resulting in an increase of interest and demand for thermalism and wellness tourism. Although thermalism is recognized to have several benefits with regard to the combat and prevention of certain pathologies, this has not yet been fully proven. So, in this paper, we presented a sensing system, capable of not only recording thermalist’s biometric data, but also getting the data ready and prepared to be processed by any analytic tool with the aim of showing the impact that this sector has on the health of its practitioners.
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This investigation exhibits a real study of the influence of color in a digital promotional product—social coupon. The paper’s goal is to analyze the perception of color in graphic design, through the analysis of consumers’ responses. Following the design-science research (DSR) approach through the development of the artifacts—social coupons—the emotional influence of color was studied during the literature review. Then, according to the DSR, the main problem was divided into iterative cycles, in order to build and evaluate the artifacts designed to meet the identified business need. After the development of innovative artifacts, a digital promotional product was tested and redesigned, according to the user's perceptions. Consumers prefer colors that are associated with positive emotions and find tranquility and safety the most related to blue color, sophistication to black color, comfort to white color, brown as the most boring color, and red as the color which captures more of their attention. This study brings new insights to brands, with the development of a new framework and with its exploration about the emotional triggers of colors in the design, determining how to best capture consumers’ attention and how to bring more pleasant experiences to them.
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Luxury consumption through private sales travel websites is an intrinsic paradox because of the antagonism between luxury and discounts. Prior literature emphasizes that discounts are risky and may damage the notion of luxury itself and brand image. We provide a broader and deeper understanding of this paradox by means of a twofold qualitative approach on luxury consumers and hotel managers. By considering both luxury motivations (personal or social) and the importance of price as an indicator of prestige, four types of luxury consumers emerge. Our findings counterintuitively show that some luxury consumers accept discounted prices on luxury, even if they show social luxury consumption motivations. This antagonism makes less sense for consumers who do not consider price as signaling prestige to others. From a managerial perspective, our results can also help create private sales websites with a differentiated approach according to the profiles of consumers and of luxury hotels.
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While many interactive technologies have been deployed in recent years, their role in influencing consumers’ unplanned spending in hotels remains unknown. Using data from a nationwide sample of 841 hotel guests, this study empirically validated a conceptual model that explains consumers’ unplanned spending. Spending was found to be influenced by the degree of co-creation of value that consumers engage in, as well as the influence of marketing factors aimed at consumer spending via interactive technologies. Moreover, this study recognizes the influence of consumers’ need for interaction as a significant factor in the model. This study offers theoretical insight and practical suggestions that (1) recognize the importance of consumers’ co-creation of value using interactive technologies and especially, (2) offer insight into the way interactive technologies should be marketed by hotels.
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p> Abstrak Tujuan – Penelitian ini meneliti pengaruh karakteristik konsumen Generasi Y terhadap Complain dan Repurchasei. Dalam penelitian ini Generasi Y karakteristik konsumen dibagi menjadi lima jenis komponen variabel yaitu Tech Savvy, Heavily Influenced by Peers, Low Trust in Brand, Prolific of Social Media, dan Desire to Engage in Social Networks, sedangkan untuk komponen variabel dependen ada dua yaitu Complain dan Repurchase . Desain/Metodologi/Pendekatan : Sampel yang digunakan adalah individu yang telah berbelanja secara online setidaknya sekali dalam enam bulan terakhir, dan pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan mendistribusikan kuesioner kepada 200 responden. Alat analisis yang digunakan adalah purposive sampling menggunakan alat model persamaan struktural yang dijalankan oleh program AMOS 22.0. Temuan - Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa Tech Savvy, Heavily Influenced by Peers, Low Trust in Brand, dan Desire to Engage in Social Network memiliki efek positif pada Complain dan Repurchase. Sedangkan variabel Prolific of Social Media tidak memiliki pengaruh pada Complain tetapi hanya memengaruhi Repurchase. Keterbaruan/Nilai – Penelitian terdahulu lebih banyak menfokuskan pada kepercayaan pada level merek. Penelitian ini memberikan pemahaman lebih mendalam mengenai kepercayaan konsumen terutama konsumen Gen Y. Abstract Purpose - his study examines the influence of Generation Y consumer characteristics on Complain and Repurchase. In this study Generation Y consumer characteristics are divided into five types of variable components namely Tech Savvy, Heavily Influenced by Peers, Low Trust in Brand, Prolific of Social Media, and Desire to Engage in Social Networks, while for dependent variable components there are two namely Complain and Repurchase. The samples used were individuals who had been shopping at least once in the last six months online, and the data collection was done by distributing questionnaires to 200 respondents. Des ign /Met hodology / Approach: The method used is purposive sampling using a structural equation model tool run by the AMOS 6.0 program. Finding - The results of this study indicate that Tech Savvy, Heavily Influenced by Peers, Low Trust in Brand, and Desire to Engage in Social Network have a positive effect on Complain and Repurchase. Whereas the Prolific of Social Media variable has no influence on Complain but only affects the Repurchase. </p
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Online flash sales (OFS) are an opportunity for customers to purchase goods with large discounts for a limited period, along with the increased risk of service failures due to heavy demand for such offers. The current work examines the impact of OFS e-commerce service failures, as well as that of perceived customer opportunism (PCO), on perceived justice with service recovery (PJWSR), post-recovery satisfaction (SSR), post-recovery perceived switching cost (PSC) and e-loyalty. By using a mixed-method approach, the current work develops a novel framework for OFS e-commerce service failure. Failure is conceptualized as functional, information, and system failures, with unique sub-dimensions/measurement items underlying each. Our findings suggest that functional and information failures have a negative effect on PJWSR, PCO has a positive effect on PJWSR, PJWSR has a significant effect on SSR/PSC and SSR positively affects e-loyalty, with no moderation of PSC on this relationship. This work contributes to the e-commerce service failure and customer opportunism literature by proposing a new contextual scale for measuring OFS e-commerce service failures and the impact of recovery-induced justice on a customer's loyalty. Leveraging this work, e-tailers need to make judicious decisions to avoid specific failures during OFS by designing robust e-commerce systems and, in the case of a failure, to have a responsive recovery protocol to enhance PJWSR and subsequent e-loyalty.
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The business model (BM) approach is making a slow, yet steady footprint in tourism research, can offer a fresh perspective and a viable level of analysis for broader networks of Internet distribution systems (IDSs). To date, the researchers have devoted limited attention to studying the daily deal (DD) providers and their position next to the online travel agencies (OTAs). More importantly, the DD providers developed a unique BM characteristics, which contrary to early predictions, enabled them to proliferate post-recession and maintain their position. The current study uses the BM approach to observe the original dimensions and BM elements, to identify distinct characteristics of generic and niche DD providers, and to benchmark them against the established OTAs. The BM approach enhances the understanding of the overlooked niche DD providers within IDSs. Further, this article provides a comparison of the BM characteristics in IDSs to help facilitate the formulation of a unique value proposition for each of them. Ultimately, the authors acknowledge limited possibilities for cooperation between the providers and discuss future directions of DD and broader IDSs BM transformations.
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The ability to calculate and understand the profitability of deal-of-the-day promotions (DoDs) is of vital importance for merchants. It is also challenging because it requires these merchants to consider long-term, cross-selling, and cannibalization effects and select an appropriate discount for the promotion. The authors develop and implement a model as a free online calculator (http://www.coupon-calculator.com) to help merchants to determine the profit they can generate from these promotions. This calculator evaluated almost 3,700 DoDs from the merchants' and providers' perspectives. To gain insight on the expected profitability of DoDs, the authors analyzed 627 of these planned promotions and 30 realized promotions. The results indicate that two-thirds of the planned and all realized DoDs are expected to be profitable in the long term. Yet, DoDs are unlikely to pay off in the short term. The findings also show that unredeemed coupons strongly increase profit, particularly those of the provider.
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Group buying, which provides daily discounts for various services and products, is a new form of marketing that has attracted the attention of both practitioners and academic researchers. However, it is unclear what factors influence the effectiveness of a group buying promotion. This study presents an analysis of 862 restaurant group buying deals based on the secondary data collected from a restaurant guide website. The results indicate that group buying effectiveness - namely, the number of coupons sold, satisfaction improvement, and return intention of group buying customers - can be affected by the discount depth of a deal as well as the service quality and popularity of a restaurant. These findings provide useful insights regarding the elements that are necessary to make a group buying promotion work.
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Group-buying (GB) deals entail a two-phase decision process. First, consumers decide whether to buy a deal or not. Second, consumers decide when to redeem a deal, conditional on purchase. Guided by theories of social influence and observational learning, the authors develop a framework predicting that (i) deal popularity increases consumers’ purchase likelihood and decreases redemption time conditional on purchase and (ii) these effects are amplified by the social influence-related factors of referral intensity and group consumption. This framework is tested and supported with a unique dataset of 30,272 customers of a GB website with several million data points. Substantially, these findings reveal a two-phase perspective of GB, longevity effects of deal popularity, and the amplifying role of customer referrals (influencing others) in the effects of deal popularity (others’ influence). In light of the criticism against GB industry practice, this study builds the case for GB websites and merchants to heed deal popularity information and the social influence-related contingencies.
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What insight do professional revenue management (RM) have about the future? A survey of 487 professionals found the future was going to be much more strategic in nature and will be more strongly driven by technology in which function space will be the new frontier. As technology evolves analytical pricing models and social networking/mobile technology are going to have a major impact on the future. Survey respondents think that the organization of the RM function is going to become more centralized, and that the skills required for a successful revenue manager are going to be a combination of analytical and communication abilities. As a consequence, performance measurement will move to total revenue or gross operating profit rather than by Revenue per available room.
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Purpose: Information typically posted on group buying websites includes number of previous buyers, whether a limit has been placed on purchase number, and the time remaining until the deal expires. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that these factors may interact such that, under certain circumstances, purchase likelihood is reduced. Design/methodology/approach: The paper first examines actual online data; the authors then follow this with a 2×2×2 experiment in which they demonstrate psychological process. Findings: Providing previous-buyer-number information can have a positive effect on a consumer's decision to purchase at an online group buying website (e.g. Groupon). Imposing a purchase limit can increase these positive effects, but providing information on time-to-expiration (if it is relatively long) can negate the effects. Both perceived value and anticipated regret are found to be mediating factors. Research limitations/implications: It is possible that effects may be attenuated as a result of product familiarity. Practical implications: Retailers should pay particular attention to the timing or pattern of purchases on group buying websites, and provide information accordingly. Originality/value: This paper is the first to show how the three factors noted previously may interact to reduce purchase intentions.
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Although the use of online coupons is increasing in popularity in the tourism industry, there is limited research investigating the design and the implementation of online coupons that maximizes their business benefits. Research in this field is urgent, as preliminary studies provide conflicting evidence about the impacts of online coupons on firm’s performance. This article aims to fill in this gap by developing a holistic framework demonstrating how tourism firms can effectively design and implement online coupons. To achieve that, the article reviews and also expands the previous literature on coupon promotion in order to consider the new characteristics and capabilities of online coupons; the implications of the latter on online coupon delivery and management practices; and customer behaviour towards the online coupons and the firm. The framework is developed under two dimensions: (a) it identifies the stages of customer behaviour that need to be materialized for achieving the benefits of online coupons as well as it proposes metrics for measuring the achievement of the aims of these stages; and (b) it identifies the various factors that may influence the customer behaviour towards the online coupons and the firm at each of these stages. The implications of the proposed framework are also discussed.
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The central intent of this econometric case study is to examine the relationship between discounting room rates and hotel financial performance. The study provides a theoretical framework that investigates the fundamentals of discounting and empirically assesses the efficacy of the discounting process in the lodging industry. The study adopts an error correction model to properly account for the dynamics of the industry. The results indicate that the variables may be modeled as an integrated process and which are linked in the long run and also possess a short-term relationship. The research findings suggest that discounting works both in the short term and the long term only if the discount rate exhibits serial correlation or non-stationary tendencies.
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This case study provides an empirical assessment of the relationship between discounting hotel room rates and hotel financial performance. The dynamics of the lodging industry are accounted for through the adoption of an error correction model. Recent research suggests that the use of discounting room rates may not be an effective pricing strategy as it results in increased occupancy rates at decreased average daily rates, thereby reducing a common financial performance indicator – revenue per available room (revPAR). The recommendation made to hotel managers, then, is to avoid discounting and instead adopt an average rate. This study generates opposing findings and reveals that discounting may be a practical short-term pricing solution that may compensate for market disequilibria. The results suggest that using statistical residuals rather than room rate averages may more accurately forecast appropriate hotel room rates and balance supply and demand. Thus, the recommendation of adopting average room rates may provide incorrect implications for managers in the short run.
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Online group buying, which is a system that provides daily discounts for various services and products, is a new form of marketing at the junction of promotion and pricing that had attracted the attention of both practitioners and academia. Getting started initially from the USA context in 2008, the system proved successful; and just in a short time, lots of clone group buying web sites has sprung and spread throughout the world. The main reason for that boom is that the method provides a win-win situation to the shareholders of the systems, the firms and the customers. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the online group buying system in Turkey, where the practice is quite new and needs a thorough understanding for future strategy building. The customers were considered as the population of the sample and in depth interview method was used to shed a light on their motivations, behavior, and perception of the online buying system. The results indicated that customers mostly based their decisions on price advantage and discount amount. However, novelty and extraordinary nature of the offer also counted. The customers, on the other hand, complained about the discriminatory and dishonest behaviour of the service providers. Implications for the campaign holder firms, the intermediaries, and for future research were drafted.
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Purpose The internet has significantly changed the ways hotels distribute and price their products. The imminent success of online intermediaries caused financial problems for hotel chains since online travel agencies offered better prices than the hotel brand websites. The existing literature on hotel online distribution has focused on pricing strategies and room availability issues for different segments of hotels. This paper, however, aims to compare online room prices of global hotel chains across online distribution channels and their own brand websites. Design/methodology/approach By using only the internet, 2,800 room rates were collected and analyzed. Descriptive statistics such as means and percentage were used to answer the research questions. Personal interviews with a CEO of an e‐business company and an area revenue director of a global hotel chain were conducted to confirm our findings and to gain additional insights in the related issues. Findings Descriptive statistics indicated that US properties are doing a much better job than their international partners in regards to “best rate guarantee,” “rate parity,” and room availability across online channels. Rate consistency still remains a problem within US properties. Research limitations/implications A limitation of this study is the use of convenience sampling methods, sample size, and currency conversion instruments. Originality/value Findings of this study would benefit revenue managers, general managers, hotel owners, and corporate brand managers to make decisions and to formulate new policies concerning their online distribution, revenue, and brand optimization strategies.
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Advance selling occurs when sellers allow buyers to purchase at a time preceding consumption (Shugan and Xie 2000). Electronic tickets, smart cards, online prepayments, and other technological advances make advance selling possible for many, if not all, service providers. These technologies lower the cost of making complex transactions at a greater distance from the seller's site. They also give sellers more control over advance selling by decreasing arbitrage. As technology enhances the capability to advance sell, more academic attention is vital. This paper strives to exploit these technologies by developing advance-selling strategies. Until recently, advance-selling research focused on the airline industry and specific characteristics of that industry. These characteristics included the price insensitivity of late arrivals (e.g., business travelers) compared with early arrivals (e.g., leisure travelers), demand uncertainty across flights on the same day, and capacity constraints. Recent findings by Shugan and Xie (2000) show that advance selling is a far more general marketing tool than previously thought. It does not require these industry-specific characteristics. It only requires the existence of buyer uncertainty about future valuations. Moreover, sellers without the ability to price discriminate can use advance selling to improve profits to the level of first-degree price discrimination. This finding is important because buyers are nearly always uncertain about their future valuations for most services (e.g., the utility of next year's vacation or a future college education). In this paper, we take the next step from Shugan and Xie (2000). We show that advance-selling profits do not come from buyer surplus, but from more buyers being able to purchase. We determine when and how to advance sell in a variety of situations, including situations with limited capacity, second-period arrivals, refunds, buyer risk aversion, exogenous credibility, continuous preference distributions, and premium pricing. We determine when advance selling improves profits and, when it does, how to set advance prices. We ask and answer seven questions. First, when should sellers advance sell? Second, how much can advance selling improve profits compared with only spot selling? Third, what factors impact the profitability of advance selling and how? Fourth, should advance prices be higher or lower or the same as spot prices? Fifth, how do capacity constraints impact advance-selling strategies? Sixth, should sellers limit the number of advance sales? Finally, what is the possible impact of buyer risk aversion? First, we provide precise conditions when sellers should advance sell. For example, without capacity constraints, we show that sellers should advance sell when marginal costs are sufficiently low to make it profitable to sell to buyers with low valuations and sufficiently high to convince buyers that the spot price will be higher than the advance price. Second, we find that advance selling can almost double the profits from optimal spot selling to early arrivals. We also show that advance selling has no impact on consumer surplus in markets with homogenous consumers and no capacity constraints. Therefore, advance selling can increase social welfare because seller profits increase. Third, we find that two very important factors impacting the profitability of advance selling are seller credibility and marginal costs. Buyers only advance buy when they expect an advantage from advance buying over spot buying. Without capacity constraints, sellers must credibly convince buyers that the advance price is at a discount to the spot price. We show that this condition is met under different circumstances. For example, large marginal costs can create credibility because buyers believe that these costs will lead to high spot prices. Fourth, we find (although optimal advance prices can be at a discount to the spot price) that sometimes a premium is optimal. Premiums are optimal when capacity is large (but limited) and marginal costs are not too large. Buyers advance purchase at a premium to spot prices when capacity is limited and spot prices are low. (Note that this is not a risk premium, and risk aversion is not required.) No prior research has suggested this strategy because that research relies on the assumption that early arrivals are more price sensitive than later ones. Without that assumption, premium advance pricing is sometimes optimal. Fifth, we find that binding capacity constraints can impact the profitability of advance selling in opposite ways. On one hand, capacity constraints create seller credibility. Buyers believe that spot prices will be high when they know spot capacity is limited (and, perhaps, more limited by advance sales). On the other hand, when capacity is limited, the need to increase sales from discounted advance prices diminishes. Sixth, consistent with Desiraju and Shugan (1999) we find that limiting advance sales can be profitable, but only under restrictive conditions. These conditions are: (1) selling to all early arrivals would leave insufficient capacity in the spot period to sell to all second-period arrivals with high valuations, (2) the optimal spot price is high, and (3) marginal costs are sufficiently small to make advance selling profitable. Finally, we find that buyer risk aversion can sometimes increase the profitability of advance selling. Our findings provide precise guidelines for a large number of service providers that will have the technical capability to advance sell. For those service providers, advance selling provides a creative pricing strategy that can potentially provide substantial improvements in profits.
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