Do Mobile Applications Bring Longer Tail? An Empirical Study of Sales Concentration in Online Channels

Doosti, Shahryar; Wang, Youwei; Tan, Yong

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3255101

Cited by 3 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…Interestingly, in contrast to Doosti et al (2018), we find that the mobile channel significantly increases sales concentration in purchases, compared to the PC channel. We find consistent evidence for our finding in both the aggregate sales model and customer-level analyses.…”

Section: Theoretical Background and Related Literaturecontrasting

confidence: 85%

“…Our paper's empirical context complements Doosti et al (2018) in two important ways. First, we focus on apparel products -a product category with steady increase in online sales worldwide.…”

Section: Theoretical Background and Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 96%

“…Among the papers that focus on purchase content, our paper is closest to a recent working paper by Doosti et al (2018). Using four weeks' data from a business-to-consumer (B2C) marketplace that primarily focuses on non-apparel products such as fishing poles and charger supplies, these authors study the difference in sales concentration between purchases through a mobile app (the mobile channel) and through browsers in desktops and laptops (the PC channel).…”

Section: Theoretical Background and Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 2018, worldwide revenue for apparel products was $418 billion and is expected to increase to $713 billion by 2022 (Orendorff 2019). Second, Doosti et al (2018) exploit cross-sectional variation as 77.4% of customers in their data execute single transactions over the four-week study period.…”

Section: Theoretical Background and Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…We find consistent evidence for our finding in both the aggregate sales model and customer-level analyses. Compared to product categories (such as fishing poles) studied in Doosti et al (2018) that invoke both crossand within-product searches, customer searches are primarily cross-products in the apparel category. As individuals' size information is relatively consistent over time, customers' do not typically engage in active within-product searches.…”

Section: Theoretical Background and Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

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M-Commerce, Sales Concentration, and Inventory Management

Jain

Tan

2022

M&SOM

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Problem definition: The mobile commerce (m-commerce) channel is poised to be the future of online markets. It offers search features distinct from conventional personal computer (PC)-based e-commerce channels. Its easy accessibility extends the time available for customers to search, although its shopping environment constraints (e.g., small screen size, single-tab browsing) may inflate search costs. Collectively, these competing features cause ambiguity about the mobile channel’s true effect on sales concentration—a key criterion in managing retail operations. The focus of this study is to understand the net impact of the mobile channel on driving sales concentration. Academic/practical relevance: Our study extends the empirical literature focusing on online retailers’ channel strategies and their implication on operations practice. It examines differences in primary online channels—mobile and PC—on shaping sales concentration across products and the cost of ignoring such a difference on inventory management, a core decision for operations managers. Methodology: We collaborate with a large online apparel retailer to access customer-level transactional data. We identify the mobile channel’s effect on sales concentration using a difference-in-differences strategy that leverages a quasi-experiment stemming from the retailer’s decision to discontinue its PC sales channel. Results: We find that the mobile channel increases the share of popular products by 6.4% compared with the PC channel. We also identify scenarios where ignoring this significant sales concentration difference will yield suboptimal inventory stocking by 4.2%–12.9%. Managerial implications: Our paper highlights that the mobile and PC channels have different sales concentrations because of different search features. Ignoring this difference affects inventory decisions, such as safety and cycle inventory levels. Therefore, it is imperative for managers to revise their status quo strategies, such as on inventory procurement, assortment planning, and product display, when integrating m-commerce with e-commerce.

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Section: Theoretical Background and Related Literaturecontrasting

confidence: 85%

Section: Theoretical Background and Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Theoretical Background and Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theoretical Background and Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theoretical Background and Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

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M-Commerce, Sales Concentration, and Inventory Management

Jain

Tan

2022

M&SOM

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Official online brand stores or online marketplaces? exploring innovation in consumer intentions

Wang,

Chen

2024

Journal of Innovation & Knowledge

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How Does the Mobile Channel Reshape the Sales Distribution in E-Commerce?

Park¹,

Bang

Ahn³

2020

Information Systems Research

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This study empirically investigates (1) how the sales distribution in the mobile commerce channel is different from the sales distribution in the traditional PC channel and (2) how mobile commerce channel adoption affects e-market users’ search intensity and their aggregate sales distribution. Our analysis shows that transactions in the mobile channel are more concentrated on “head” products compared with PC channel sales. However, it does not imply that the presence of the mobile channel concentrates the demand on head products in online markets, given that mobile channel users can purchase products in the PC channel as well. On the basis of the subsequent user-level analysis, we reveal that in the case of preference goods such as books, CDs, toys, and fashion items, mobile commerce channel adoption increased e-market users’ search activities and resulted in more “tail” product sales. For quality goods such as PCs, phones, cameras, and digital appliances, however, adoption intensified the search activities but resulted in more head product sales. Finally, for convenience goods such as home supplies and processed foods, adoption discouraged search activities and decreased the choice of tail products.

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Do Mobile Applications Bring Longer Tail? An Empirical Study of Sales Concentration in Online Channels

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

M-Commerce, Sales Concentration, and Inventory Management

M-Commerce, Sales Concentration, and Inventory Management

Official online brand stores or online marketplaces? exploring innovation in consumer intentions

How Does the Mobile Channel Reshape the Sales Distribution in E-Commerce?

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