Dynamic Purchase Decisions Under Regret: Price and Availability

17 Pages Posted: 9 Jan 2011 Last revised: 3 Mar 2011

See all articles by Enrico Diecidue

Enrico Diecidue

INSEAD – Decision Sciences

Nils Rudi

INSEAD - Technology and Operations Management

Wenjie Tang

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: January 7, 2011

Abstract

We model a dynamic purchase context in which a consumer is uncertain about the product's valuation. The consumer has two purchase opportunities for the product: forward purchase in period 1 or spot purchase in period 2. Two forms of regret are considered: buyer's regret over the money paid in excess of his valuation of the product when buying forward; and hesitater's regret for the lost opportunity of an increased surplus when not buying forward. We illustrate how regrets a ect the purchase decision: a consumer is more likely to buy forward when more averse to hesitater's regret but more likely to delay the decision when more averse to buyer's regret. We also consider alternative consumer types to characterize how regret a ects their spot purchase decisions as well as what triggers the regret. We show that type inconsistency (that is, a consumer's incorrect anticipation of his future type) induces an inferior period 1 purchase decision and thereby reduces the consumer's expected surplus.

Keywords: Regret, Consumer Behavior, Dynamic Purchase, Type Inconsistency

Suggested Citation

Diecidue, Enrico and Rudi, Nils and Tang, Wenjie, Dynamic Purchase Decisions Under Regret: Price and Availability (January 7, 2011). INSEAD Working Paper No. 2011/02/DS/TOM, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1736487 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1736487

Enrico Diecidue (Contact Author)

INSEAD – Decision Sciences ( email )

France

Nils Rudi

INSEAD - Technology and Operations Management ( email )

Boulevard de Constance
77 305 Fontainebleau Cedex
France

Wenjie Tang

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

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