Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/149667 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
Discussion Paper No. 8
Publisher: 
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München und Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Collaborative Research Center Transregio 190 - Rationality and Competition, München und Berlin
Abstract: 
Pay What You Want (PWYW) and Name Your Own Price (NYOP) are customer driven pricing mechanisms that give customers (some) pricing power. Both have been used in service industries with high fixed costs to price discriminate without setting a reference price. Their participatory and innovative nature gives rise to promotional benefits that do not accrue to posted-price sellers. We explore the nature and effects of these benefits and compare PWYW and NYOP using controlled lab experiments. We show that PWYW is a very aggressive strategy that achieves almost full market penetration. It can be profitable if there are promotional benefits and if marginal costs are low. In contrast, NYOP can be used profitably also if marginal costs are high and if there are no such benefits. It reduces price competition and segments the market. In a second experiment, we generate promotional benefits endogenously. We show that PWYW monopolizes the follow-up market but fails to be profitable. NYOP is less successful in penetrating the market but yields much higher profits.
Subjects: 
Customer-driven pricing mechanisms
pay what you want
name your own price
competitive strategies
marketing
laboratory experiment
JEL: 
D03
D21
D22
D40
L11
M31
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
429.17 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.