The Visible Hand? Demand Effects of Recommendation Networks in Electronic Markets

被引:116
作者
Oestreicher-Singer, Gal [1 ]
Sundararajan, Arun [2 ]
机构
[1] Tel Aviv Univ, Recanati Business Sch, IL-69978 Tel Aviv, Israel
[2] NYU, Stern Sch Business, New York, NY 10012 USA
关键词
social network; social media; peer effects; homophily; slotting; selection; electronic markets; electronic commerce; product networks; WORD-OF-MOUTH; EMPIRICAL-ANALYSIS; MODELS; IDENTIFICATION; BEHAVIOR; SALES; BRAND;
D O I
10.1287/mnsc.1120.1536
中图分类号
C93 [管理学];
学科分类号
12 ; 1201 ; 1202 ; 120202 ;
摘要
Online commercial interactions have increased dramatically over the last decade, leading to the emergence of networks that link the electronic commerce landing pages of related products to one another. Our paper conjectures that the explicit visibility of such "product networks" can alter demand spillovers across their constituent items. We test this conjecture empirically using data about the copurchase networks and demand levels associated with more than 250,000 interconnected books offered on Amazon.com over the period of one year while controlling for alternative explanations of demand correlation using a variety of approaches. Our findings suggest that on average the explicit visibility of a copurchase relationship can lead to up to an average threefold amplification of the influence that complementary products have on each others' demand levels. We also find that newer and more popular products "use" the attention they garner from their network position more efficiently and that diversity in the sources of spillover further amplifies the demand effects of the recommendation network. Our paper presents new evidence quantifying the role of network position in electronic markets and highlights the power of basing (virtual) shelf position on consumer preferences that are explicitly revealed through shared purchasing patterns.
引用
收藏
页码:1963 / 1981
页数:19
相关论文
共 52 条
[1]  
Aaker D.A., 2004, Brand portfolio strategy
[2]  
[Anonymous], 2006, The structure and dynamics of networks
[3]   Distinguishing influence-based contagion from homophily-driven diffusion in dynamic networks [J].
Aral, Sinan ;
Muchnik, Lev ;
Sundararajan, Arun .
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 2009, 106 (51) :21544-21549
[4]   The Effect of Superstar Software on Hardware Sales in System Markets [J].
Binken, Jeroen L. G. ;
Stremersch, Stefan .
JOURNAL OF MARKETING, 2009, 73 (02) :88-104
[5]   Spatial models in marketing [J].
Bradlow, ET ;
Bronnenberg, B ;
Russell, GJ ;
Arora, N ;
Bell, DR ;
Duvvuri, SD ;
Ter Hofstede, F ;
Sismeiro, C ;
Thomadsen, R ;
Yang, S .
MARKETING LETTERS, 2005, 16 (3-4) :267-278
[6]   Identification of peer effects through social networks [J].
Bramoulle, Yann ;
Djebbari, Habiba ;
Fortin, Bernard .
JOURNAL OF ECONOMETRICS, 2009, 150 (01) :41-55
[7]   The anatomy of a large-scale hypertextual Web search engine [J].
Brin, S ;
Page, L .
COMPUTER NETWORKS AND ISDN SYSTEMS, 1998, 30 (1-7) :107-117
[8]   Consumer surplus in the digital economy: Estimating the value of increased product variety at Online booksellers [J].
Brynjolfsson, E ;
Hu, Y ;
Smith, MD .
MANAGEMENT SCIENCE, 2003, 49 (11) :1580-1596
[9]   Observational Learning: Evidence from a Randomized Natural Field Experiment [J].
Cai, Hongbin ;
Chen, Yuyu ;
Fang, Hanming .
AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, 2009, 99 (03) :864-882
[10]   Online Social Interactions: A Natural Experiment on Word of Mouth Versus Observational Learning [J].
Chen, Yubo ;
Wang, Qi ;
Xie, Jinhong .
JOURNAL OF MARKETING RESEARCH, 2011, 48 (02) :238-254