Do Frequency Reward Programs Create Switching Costs? A Dynamic Structural Analysis of Demand in a Reward Program
36 Pages Posted: 4 Aug 2006 Last revised: 28 Oct 2007
Date Written: October 27, 2007
Abstract
This paper examines a common assertion that customers in reward programs become "locked in" as they accumulate credits toward earning a reward. We define a measure of switching costs and use a dynamic structural model of demand in a reward program to illustrate that frequent customers' purchase incentives are practically invariant to the number of credits. In our empirical example, these customers comprise over eighty percent of all rewards and over two-thirds of all purchases. Less frequent customers may face substantial switching costs when close to a reward, but rarely reach this state.
Keywords: switching costs, reward programs, dynamic programming, discrete-choice
JEL Classification: L11, L13, M31, D43
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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