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

CCP Working Paper No. 08-23

31 Pages Posted: 5 Jun 2008

See all articles by Alexia Gaudeul

Alexia Gaudeul

Joint Research Center of the European Commission

Date Written: June 2, 2008

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.

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

Suggested Citation

Gaudeul, Alexia, Software Marketing on the Internet: The Use of Samples and Repositories (June 2, 2008). CCP Working Paper No. 08-23, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1140674 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1140674

Alexia Gaudeul (Contact Author)

Joint Research Center of the European Commission ( email )

Via E. Fermi 2749
Brussels, B-1049
Belgium

HOME PAGE: http://https://knowledge4policy.ec.europa.eu/behavioural-insights/about_en

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