Abstract
Recently, firms start to offer samples of physical products online to reach wider audience. However, literature has mostly examined offline product sampling or online sampling of digital products that differ from physical products. To address the gaps, we build on the theoretical logic of uncertainty reduction and signaling perspective to consider physical product characteristics in developing our hypotheses, and employed a unique dataset from an e-commerce platform for hypothesis testing. Our analysis reveals that online sampling could increase the physical product sales, while popular brands enjoyed greater advantages in terms of increase in both immediate and lagged sales.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 599-612 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Information and Management |
| Volume | 54 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 2017 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Difference-in-difference
- Electronic commerce
- Online sampling
- Physical products
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Management Information Systems
- Information Systems
- Information Systems and Management