Software Marketing on the Internet: The Use of Samples and Repositories

Abstract:     
This paper examines one of the most important marketing strategies by software producers on the Internet. That is whether to offer free samples and if so, whether to list the samples on shareware repositories. I show that firms with higher value products have a greater incentive to offer free samples but are more reluctant to do so if they are well known, and even when they do are less likely to be listed on shareware repositories. I then proceed to use four types of Probit-based models to corroborate the findings from the theoretical model.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 31

Keywords: Shareware, Software, Internet, Distribution, Intermediation, Directory, Repository, Advertising, Brand, Reputation, Asymmetric Information, Search, Sample

JEL Classification: D42, D43, D82, D83, L13, L15, L81, L86

working papers series