Title: Product Information and Market Information in Online Markets

Time: 12:30 PM, March 16th

Location: Room 0411, Zero Building, Jiuli Campus

Abstract: This paper studies how the provision of product and/or market information affects the behavior of buyers and sellers and the sales volume of online markets. We first identify the Pareto-efficient equilibrium of the seller's pricing decision. Then, under different information structures, we study the impact of market parameters on platform sales volume at equilibrium. We find that platform sales volume increases with the size of potential buyers, but varies non-monotonically with the size of potential sellers. Next, we analyze the platform's optimal information strategy. We find that while it is always optimal for the platform to disclose certain information, it should strategically disclose information in the face of different supply-demand conditions. Specifically, in a seller's market (where the proportion of potential buyers and sellers is high), the platform should provide product and market information to both sellers and buyers. However, in a buyer's market (where the proportion of potential buyers to sellers is low), the platform is best to only provide market information.

Speaker bio: Shu Hu is an assistant professor with a Ph.D. in engineering from Southwest Jiaotong University. His research focuses on closed-loop supply chain management, trade-in programs, online platforms, and other related areas. He has led projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, and has published over ten papers in academic journals such as Production and Operations Management, European Journal of Operational Research, Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, International Journal of Production Economics, Management Review, and China Management Science.

Hosted by: School of Economics and Management

Organized by: Logistics and Supply Chain Management Research Team

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